


Born of the Stars

by LadyLiterature



Series: More Magical Voltron [1]
Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alien Cultural Differences, Alien Mythology/Religion, Allura and Coran are seven feet tall all the time, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Asexual Pidge | Katie Holt, BAMF Lance (Voltron), Bisexual Lance (Voltron), Canon Rewrite, Comic Book Science, Cuban Lance (Voltron), Demisexual Keith (Voltron), Enemies to Friends, F/F, F/M, Family Fluff, Female Lance (Voltron), Female Pronouns for Pidge | Katie Holt, Fluff and Humor, Genius Pidge | Katie Holt, Hawaiian Hunk (Voltron), Hunk (Voltron) is a Good Friend, Japanese Shiro (Voltron), Lance (Voltron) Has ADHD, Lance (Voltron) Speaks Spanish, Lance (Voltron)-centric, M/M, Magic and Science, Magical Realism, More Magical Voltron, Multilingual Character, Other, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pidge and Hunk are Science Bros, Sentient Voltron Lions, Shiro (Voltron) Has PTSD - Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Slow Burn, Smart Hunk, Strategist Lance, Team Voltron Family, Team as Family, Women Being Awesome, but the POV still changes as I see fit, but this story isn't out to hurt you, gratuitous use of nicknames, i don't think they have the same gender coding, i gave lance three older sisters, in that it's mainly his pov, is it really bisexuality if he hits on aliens?, like... the slowest burn, sometimes bad things happen
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-31
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2019-10-06 09:13:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 15
Words: 133,058
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17342600
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyLiterature/pseuds/LadyLiterature
Summary: It’s kinda creepy that the graph Hunk made of Voltron’s emission spectrum looks exactly like the outcropping of rock Keith found of the cave systems near them.The feeling of absolute certainty in Lance’s chest thatthatis the place they're looking for is far worse.***Sometimes, Destiny takes you on a different path than you planned. Sometimes, that path is one that an Alien Goddess picks out for you and it happens to involve fighting in a sentient, alien, cat-shaped warship against alien dictators.It's not what she expected her life to be, it isn't even what she wanted her life to be. But goddamn it, is she going to save everyone she can anyway and she's going to build a family while she does it.





	1. The Story of Tonight (will be told for centuries)

**Author's Note:**

> [Born of the Stars:](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/7lkrGIvGzdFAvzTuDL0c2l) a playlist based on the whole fic  
> [just like the ocean, always in love with the moon:](https://open.spotify.com/playlist/0h514LQmo65HHTdUT0fO8o) a playlist based specifically on Lance

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Beginnings are hard, but at least she has a new cat.

The simulator controls fought Lance’s carefully controlled movements as she tried to pull them out of the steep dive towards the moon’s surface. They jerked in her grip and responded stiffly to the instruction. They always did, but today it felt more grating than normal. Irked her and rubbed her the wrong way until she felt raw and open.

She wished they would just put her in a real ship instead of insisting on the simulator so much. She knew how those worked. Knew how they flew and how they actually felt  _ right  _ in a way the simulator never did. They responded  _ properly _ .

She’d practically grown up flying in-atmosphere ships, she knew every model and make like the back of her hand. Could fly almost all of them with ease. But the  _ fucking simulator- _

The Garrison had allowed her to get in the ships before, though it took so much effort just to get that far. She still remembers Iverson’s face when Sabre had called him and demanded (cussed out more like) that she be put in a  _ real _ plane immediately,  _ damn _ her scores.

And now that she was fighter class they let her do it even more, though Iverson still bitched and moaned about how it didn’t mean anything and she still had to perform excellently in the simulators or be demoted. So here she sat, failing over and over again with Hunk in the back seat, nervous and vomiting from his terrible motion sickness, and Pidge, insubordinate and stubborn.

It was a goddamn mess and today couldn’t get any worse.

But she grinned and bore it until the end, confidence plastered on her face like a poorly applied charcoal mask. She felt like screaming but Francisca’s favorite words, ‘fake it ‘til you make it’ circled around her head. Fake your smile until it’s real. Fake your confidence until your brave. Fake your calm until your head is level.

The world is harsh and won’t wait for you to get yourself back together. It’s a lesson she learned early and refused to forget. So she sat and grinned and postured right up until the plane crashed into the planet, killing them all.

The trio exited the simulator like kicked puppies lined up outside for the slaughter as Iverson tore into them. He picked apart their individual flaws before moving on to degrade them as a team. Lance stood there with her head bowed, lips pressed into a thin line as he berated her leadership skills. As he dragged their teamwork through the mud.

“The Galaxy Garrison exists to turn young cadets like you into the next generation of elite astro explorers.” Iverson’s gravely baritone reprimanded them, something like disappointment and frustration in his voice. “But your arrogance and foolishness are leading you down a path of failure. If you don’t shape up quick, you’ll find yourself making the same mistakes that took the lives of the men on the Kerberos Mission."

Pidge stiffens at her side and Lance has a second to curse every deity she knows for burdening her with a teammate who doesn’t know when to keep his damn mouth  _ shut _ before he opens said mouth and practically  _ snarls _ at Iverson. “That’s a lie!” His face is twisted in anger and denial and Lance is really just trying to keep the fraying edges of her patience together at this point.

Before Iverson even has a chance to turn and face Pidge with a scowl, Lance has a hand over his mouth, stopping any more defiant words that may spill from it.

“Care to repeat that, cadet?” Iverson’s voice is dangerously low and nope. No, that is a trap if she had ever seen one. Do not repeat that, do not pass go, do not collect two hundred dollars  _ thank you very much. _

“No! No, definitely not, sir,” Lance hastily replies, even as Pidge struggles in her hold. Lance looks at Hunk out of the corner of her eye but knows she won’t be getting any help from her best friend in this particular disaster.

Hunk is  _ terrified  _ of Iverson.

“He must’ve hit is head in the simulator. And he’s been staying up too late trying to his grades in tip-top shape, you know? He’s just overtired is all,” she finishes with a weak smile and a loud gulp. “We all heard you loud and clear, with the utmost respect, sir.”

Iverson glares down at the pair of them, before bending slightly so he can get right up in Lance’s face. Pidge immediately stops struggling, finally reading the room.

“Then I’m glad you know your place, cadet. I’m sure I don’t need to remind you how close you are to losing your spot as a fighter pilot, or how you only got it because the best pilot in your class dropped out.” Lance stares up at Iverson wide-eyed, heart in her throat. The circumstances of her elevation were a sore spot that almost everyone knew about and Iverson loved to exploit. Lance bit her tongue so hard it  _ stung  _ in order to keep herself from saying something.

She would not let him  _ win. _

He stood there a second longer, staring at her appraisingly before turning his back on all three of them.

“It’d be a shame if you were to follow in his footsteps, Martinez. Dismissed.”

***

After the call for lights out, Lance goads Hunk into sneaking out with her and finding Pidge. She uses the excuse of ‘team bonding’ and her distress over Iverson’s threat of expulsion to get Hunk to agree to it. He always did have a soft spot for her ‘magic kicked puppy eyes’ as he called them.

She plans to take them all out into town, maybe go to an arcade, teach Pidge how to hit on girls--or whatever he was into--or take Hunk to that new Thai restaurant he’d been going on and on about.

Her and Hunk were dressed in their civvies so they could blend in. Well, she’ll blend in, Hunk was dressed primarily in  _ yellow. _

Which isn’t to say it looked bad on him--because it didn’t; yellow  _ was _ his color--it was just hardly inconspicuous. At least he had a darker vest and pair of pants to offset his shirt. She didn’t understand the purpose of his  _ gloves _ though.

She still can’t believe Mace convinced Hunk that fingerless gloves were  _ cool. _

Lance, at least, was dressed more practically. She was clothed in deep blues and blacks. Her form-fitting, skinny jeans tucked into combat boots and the worn-in leather jacket Mace gave her. She chose to leave her long, chestnut-colored hair down, content to let it fall in gentle curls down her back. She did her makeup like she always did, her eyes done in dark neutral makeup and lips painted her signature red.

This may be an excursion with friends but she had appearances to keep. Reputations to uphold.

Reputations Hunk would rather her not have but that isn’t something they can control. She cannot craft the words they throw at her, only turn them around and make them her own. Just like Francisca taught her.

“This is such a bad idea,” Hunk’s worrying pulled her out of her thoughts. “We’re going to get caught and then we’ll be in so much trouble and then we  _ will _ be expelled.  _ Auwe! Koʻu makuahine ua hele e pepehi mai iaʻu-” _

“Hunk!” Lance whisper-yells at him as she peeks around a corner, checking if it was clear. “You are  _ really _ killing my vibe, Honey Bee.”

Hunk has the decency to look sheepish and lower his voice. “Sorry. I’m just saying, for the record, that this is a  _ bad idea.” _

“For someone in a space exploration program, you don’t have much sense of adventure,” Lance quips cheekily.

Hunk huffs as they crawl beneath the window to the teachers' lounge. Lance is still amazed at how lax the security here is, but maybe they think military kids will be more well behaved or something. A military school should honestly know better but whatever.

Their loss is her gain.

“You’re the one who convinced me to join in the first place.”

Lance smiles where Hunk can’t see her. The reminder that Hunk came to the Garrison mostly because of Lance always gave her the warm fuzzies. Not that it was just her though, the Garrison’s engineering program is one of the best in the world, but Hunk could’ve gone to any of them instead of coming here and that means the world to Lance. More than she’ll ever tell him outright, but she wouldn’t be surprised if he knew anyway. “And, by the way, all your ‘adventures’ end up with me in the principal's office. I don’t call that a fun time.”

“Not all of them!” Lance protests, half laughing, and half offended.

Hunk gives her a look before the two catch sight of Pidge leaving his room. “Where do ya think he’s going?”

She doesn’t wait for a response before she’s sneaking off after the younger cadet. Hunk groans, exasperated but used to her shenanigans, and follows dutifully behind.

***

They find Pidge on the roof.

The boy’s sat in front of some sort of scanning device and equipment Lance isn’t even going to try and name. Hunk looks over her shoulder at it in interest but doesn’t move forward even though she knows he wants nothing more.

Probably waiting for her to make sure it’s safe.

Lance steps farther onto the roof, closer to the younger boy. Pidge doesn’t so much as twitch when Lance stands behind him. Lance rolls her eyes at her oblivious team member and bends herself over the younger boy, her hands on his shoulders and face upside down in front of his.

“Whatcha listening to?” she asks as Pidge squeals in alarm. Lance has to bite back a laugh at the sound. It reminds her of a kitten.

It takes a second, but the younger boy eventually pushes her off when he realizes who she is.  “Lance, Hunk… fancy meeting you up here.”

He’s nervous, fiddling with his glasses as he speaks. Does he think they’re going to report him? He shouldn’t, Pidge is  _ way _ smarter than that.

So that must mean it’s something else.

Lance narrows her eyes, crosses her arms and cocks out her hip. “Mhmm,” she hums like her Mamá always did when she was up to something as a kid. She has a lot of practice imitating it because she was  _ always  _ up to something. “Why are you up here?”

“Nothing,” Pidge replies too quickly. Lance can  _ see  _ the way he forces himself to relax and slow down for the next sentence. “Just… looking at the stars.”

Hunk, who she guesses deemed it safe enough to try crawling over to the technology gold mine in front of Pidge, slowly reaches out to touch the small satellite. He doesn’t get very far at all before Pidge slaps his hand away without ever taking his eyes off Lance.

“Stop it.”

Hunk lets out a startled whine and backpedals wildly. Lance doesn’t even bat an eye at him, he’ll do it again in a second, she knows. Her best friend is too curious for his own good.

It’s why he actually agrees to so many of her ideas.

Lance raises her eyebrow to convey how much she does not believe him and pointedly looks to the tech Hunk was just messing with. “What’s that then?” She’s genuinely curious as well as proving a point. Multitasking is but one skill she has mastered in her seventeen years of life. “It’s not Garrison, that much I can tell.”

“I built it,” he tells her smugly.

Lance looks at him impressed but not wholly surprised. She knew how smart he was. She crouches down next to the set up for a closer look but is careful not to touch anything.

“You built all of this?” Hunk asks amazed, disregarding his earlier warning and reaching out to tap at the keyboard.

“Knock it off, Hunk.” Pidge slaps his hand away again and Hunk groans in frustration.

_ Poor baby,  _ she thinks. She can practically feel his need to take apart the computer and see how it ticks.

“But, yeah. With  _ this _ , I can scan all the way to the edge of the solar system.” He raises his chin, practically preening and fluffing up with pride.

 “The edge of the solar system, eh? All the way to…  _ Kerberos?” _ Lance tilts her head, hair falling to the side and voice lilting in that challenging way so many people hate.

In the blink of an eye, Pidge goes from prideful to pouting. It’s like a switch was flipped, the smaller boy drawing in on himself with an unreadable expression on his face. It a quiet kind of… sadness? Frustration?

It’s so different from the fiery anger he directs at the instructors who bring up Pluto’s moon. Lance isn’t sure what the difference means.

“Okay, what’s the deal? You go ballistic anytime it’s brought up!” Pidge just curls further inwards and Lance softens. “We’re a team, okay? I want you to know you can trust us. You don’t need to keep it to yourself.”

Pidge gives him a look that tells Lance just how much he believes  _ that _ , but the younger starts talking anyway.

“Okay,  _ fine _ .” He takes a deep breath, “The world as you know it is about to change. The Kerberos mission didn’t go down due to pilot error or crew mistake-”

Pidge abruptly cuts himself off and turns to glare at Hunk who was fiddling with one of the wire panels on Pidge’s monitor. Pidge’s six sense with this technology is actually getting kind of scary. “Stop touching my equipment!” he shouts.

Hunk pouts, falling onto his side like a lame dog.

Lance shakes her head at his dramatics before throwing her two cents in while she has the chance. “Well,  _ yeah _ . The people on that mission were top of the class. Best of the best. They wouldn’t have just  _ gone down _ .”

She never did like the story that went out about the lost Kerberos Vessel. Shirogane was her piloting  _ hero _ , of  _ course, _ she’d be suspicious of them blaming him for the crash. And according to Hunk, the Holts were practically  _ legends  _ in the scientific community. Nothing about the Garrisons story made sense, so obviously her first thought had been it’s a lie.

Maybe there was something wrong with the ship's equipment and it killed them. The Garrison couldn’t just let that get out and stay at the top military organization for space exploration.

“My theory was always that something was wrong with the ship and the Garrison was trying to cover their collective asses.”

Pidge is shaking his head before she even finishes talking. “No, no, no. The ship didn’t crash _ at all _ .”

Lance’s brow furrows in confusion. “That doesn’t make any sense.”

“Exactly!” Pidge exclaims snapping his fingers at her. “Why would they lie about it crashing at all? I wanted to find out, so I’ve been digging through their files-”

“Wha? That’s illegal!” Hunk sits up abruptly, a part of the conversation again.

Pidge ignores him and continues, tapping away at some keys on his computer. “-and scanning the system looking for the lost ship. Instead of finding it, I’ve been picking up alien radio chatter.”

Hunk gets even more panicky. “Aliens? What do you  _ mean  _ aliens?”

Lance looks at Pidge thoughtfully. Aliens had to exist, that was mostly accepted at this point. It’d be incredibly arrogant to believe Earth was the only planet with life on it considering everything they know about the universe now. But aliens near Earth? Advanced species coming after them?

That’s insane.

Lance tells Pidge as much.

He scowls at her. “I’m  _ serious,” _ he snaps, grabbing a notepad and shoving it in her face.

Most of the page was covered in colorful doodles of random things, but there were a couple of spaces in the margins that looked like he was trying to figure out the spelling of random words. Some bits were crossed out and rewritten over and over again. In the middle, there’s a large word circled in red a few times.

“Most of its complete gibberish. Noises and words that aren’t apart of any known language on Earth; I’ve cross-referenced all of them. But they keep repeating certain words, one of them being ‘ _ Voltron,’” _ he taps the circled word for emphasis. “Another being ‘ _ Earth.’ _

“But tonight,” he gestures to the monitor where Lance can see the wave frequencies on the screen. They’re moving erratically as if someone really  _ is  _ talking on the other side. “The radio is going crazier than I’ve ever seen. I think they're looking for something. And they’re looking  _ here. _ ”

As if from some divine dramatic cue, the Garrison alarm chooses to blare high and loud at that exact moment. All three of them jump at the sound as Iverson warns all the students to stay in their barracks until further notice. That this is not a drill.

“Zulu-niner?” Lance repeats, thinking back to the book of codes she was handed during her first term at the Garrison. “That’s an unrecognized object in our airspace.”

All three of them look to the sky at the same time but its Hunk who spots the…  _ thing  _ rocketing toward them first. It looks like it’s on  _ fire _ , ripping through the atmosphere at unreasonable speeds and seemingly heading straight for them.

Lance’s heart pounds at the sight. “What the hell is that?”

Pidge whips out binoculars before she even turns around, the boy focused intensely on the object. “It’s a ship!”

“What?” Lance grabs the binoculars, dragging Pidge with them when he doesn’t let go. It doesn’t matter that Pidge told her it was a ship; when she sees it actually flying towards them her brain short circuits.  _ “¡Dios mío! ¡ _ _ No puedo creerlo _ _!” _ Lance exclaims, eyes wide. “That is  _ not  _ one of ours!”

The trio gaze up at the sky in wonder and fear.

“No. It’s one of  _ theirs.” _ His eyes are practically sparkling as they watch the ship crash into the rocks a mere  _ mile  _ away. The ground shakes with the force of it hitting the ground.

Pidge scrambles away like a bat out of hell, quickly and precisely shoving all of his equipment into his backpack.

“Wait. so like, aliens are real? That’s a thing that’s definitely happening now?” Hunk asks, wringing his hands.

Lance gives him a wry grin as she moves turns back to Pidge. The younger boy is pulling his backpack over his shoulder and looks up at her, excitement dancing behind his eyes. His practically vibrating in place, hopping from foot to foot as if it physically impossible for him to stay still right now.

Lance grins, she’s not much better off.

“We  _ have _ to see that ship.”

Lance couldn’t agree more. Real life aliens? That’s a piece of history she's  _ definitely  _ not missing. She grabs Hunk’s hand and drags him off after Pidge.

“Come on, Darling. The adventure isn’t over yet!”

Lance laughs when Hunk just groans in response.

“For the record, this is the  _ worst _ team-building exercise ever.”

***

Fifteen minutes later, the three of them are set up on an outcropping above and away from the tent set up around the crash. Pidge was fiddling with his equipment, hacking into something by the looks of it and zoned out to everything else.  Lance was laid out on the ground sniper style, hair tied out of her face as she surveyed the area with Pidge’s binoculars while Hunk crouched behind her shuffling his feet and babbling about nothing and everything.

“What is  _ that _ ?” Lance spots the ship that crash landed, surprisingly intact for something that hit the surface of a hard rock at thousands of miles an hour. It looks like nothing she'd ever seen before, sleek and amazing. Lance itches to fly it, wants to know how it moves and responds. She doubts she’ll get the chance with the military swarming over the thing, but she can dream.

She scans the rest of the area and gets distracted by a commanding officer coming out of the temporary base. A colonel by the looks of it; a young one.

A sly grin slides itself across her face, “Who is  _ she?” _ she asks, voice silky smooth. Pidge hits the back of her head hard enough to make her yelp. Lance rips the binoculars from her face to glare at the boy. “What the hell, Pidge.”

He doesn’t even deign to look at her and Lance huffily goes back to scanning the area. “So good news is that the Garrison finally stepped up their security. Bad news is that they got their shit together to the inconvenience of us. I don’t think there’s a way for us to get inside, not without risking bodily harm. And I prefer my body  _ unharmed, _ thank you very much.”

Hunk, unsurprisingly, suggests just heading back to the barracks and forgetting about the whole endeavor entirely. Saying that they should raid the barrack’s kitchen for food as a bonding experience instead of spying on the military and alien spaceships. He even gets up to start back towards the Garrison before Pidge speaks up.

“Hold up. There’s a camera in there. Look!”

Pidge has somehow acquired the feed of whatever camera set up in the room. Lance doesn’t even ask how; the answer is just that he’s Pidge.

Peering over his shoulder, Lance can see the slightly fuzzy feed. It’s a medical room with personal roaming about dressed in hazmat suits. They’re setting up equipment and running tests and writing on clipboards. It was sterile, all white and pristine stainless steel.

But what caught Lance’s attention and kept it was the fact that there was a  _ human person _ strapped to the table in the middle of the room. The man wore odd clothes, torn and filthy, and he looked like he was in need of a good meal or two. He struggled and strained against the binds around his wrists, panic clouding his eyes as he spoke to the apathetic doctors. He looked so frantic and erratic and  _ scared  _ that it took Lance a full five seconds to even realize who she’s looking at.

It’s  _ Takashi Shirogane. _

The pilot of the Kerberos Mission.

Her hero.

He’s alive _. _ A little roughed up, new scars and white hair and robot arm, but he’s  _ alive. _

And he’s strapped to a table like some sort of science experiment. Lance feels anger rise in her stomach at the sight and has to stop herself from sneering.

She tells the other two who he is as Shirogane talks on the screen. She can’t hear what he’s saying because Pidge has the headphones, but he is  _ freaking out. _ And still, none of the scientists even bat an eye at him. They aren’t even  _ listening _ to him.

Pidge looks at the screen with a mixture of curiosity and something darker she can’t categorize. Something more desperate. “Where’s the rest of the crew?” he asks impatiently, under his breath. After a moment he informs Lance and Hunk that Shirogane’s talking about ‘Voltron.’ That they need to find it somehow.

The three of them watch as Shirogane is examined and then put to sleep, still struggling. It makes Lance’s blood boil. How  _ dare _ they?

“They didn’t even ask about the rest of the crew!” Pidge protests angrily.

“What are they  _ doing _ down there? This  _ cannot _ be regulation.”

Pidge looks up determinedly, “We need to get him out of there.”

Lance opens her mouth to agree when Hunk suddenly stands up. “Mhmm, okay. Hate to be the voice of reason, always,” he shoots a look at Lance that she returns with a grin. “But weren’t we just watching on the screen because there’s no way past the guards?” he uses wide gestures, sweeping hands and fast motions like he does when he’s nervous.

“Well, buddy, that was before we were properly motivated.” She tilts her head questioningly at Pidge. “Maybe we could tunnel in?”

“Or we grab some hazmat suits and sneak in like med techs,” he offers.

“Or, hear me out,  _ or _ , we dress like cooks, sneak into the commissary… have a little late-night snack?” Hunk tries weakly. Both Lance and Pidge give him unimpressed stares.

Lance shakes her head before tapping her chin with her knuckle, face scrunched up in thought. “No, what we  _ need  _ is a distraction.”

_ BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! _

As if on cue four loud booms in rapid succession sound off behind her, causing all three of them to jump in fear. “What the hell?!” she yells.

“Are they here? Oh god, are—Tha—The—Is that the aliens?! They got here really quickly!” Hunk panics behind her as Lance reaches for the binoculars she set to the side.

Pidge, who was the first to recover, squints off the side of the cliff and points in the distance. “No, those  _ were  _ a distraction! For him!”

Lance zooms in with the binoculars and the moving dot turns into a person riding a red hoverbike. The bike is getting steadily closer to the tent and Shirogane. He doesn’t even wait for the bike to fully stop before he’s jumping off and running for the entrance. She can just make out a red jacket and black hair in the dim light and Lance feel indignation rise up in her throat. She’s completely missed what Pidge had been saying.

_ “ _ _ ¡ _ _ Hijo de puta!” _ Lance swears, shoving it into Pidge’s hands and running for the cliffside. “If he thinks he’s going to beat me in this too he has another thing coming!  _ ¡ _ _ El nervio de este cabrón!” _

“What?” Pidge asks, confused from both her anger and her Spanish. She’d forgotten he didn’t speak Spanish for a moment, most people do these days. “Who are you talking about?”

“Keith!”

“Who?” Pidge asks, even more confused. But Hunk, bless him, understands immediately and not for the first time that night runs after her.

“Are you sure?”

“I’d know that mullet anywhere!” she calls, already halfway down the cliff.

Pidge stands at the top for a second longer, asking again in a tone that sounded more like a whine, “Who’s Keith?” before following behind.

Lance sprints across the clearing and past knocked out guards until she charges into the main room, breathing heavily. When she gets there, the technicians are all on the ground and Keith is already lifting Shirogane off the table. Hunk and Pidge arrive, breathless behind her.

“Nope. No, you don’t-- no, no, no,  _ no.” _ Lance shoves the stupid metal table out of the way to come up on his other side to help bare Shirogane’s weight. “I’m saving Shirogane.”

Keith looks at her in confusion and suspicion. “Who are you?”

“Who am I? The name’s Lance Martinez,” Lance pauses but no recognition appears on Keith’s face. Anger sparks in her gut. She knew Keith wouldn’t remember her, after all, she didn’t matter at all to the star pupil. Wasn’t a  _ threat. _ But she can’t help but push it farther, force him to know her  _ now.  _ Being forgotten, being unimportant terrifies Lance and it doesn’t matter that she doesn’t even like Keith. She  _ wants _ him to know her. She doesn’t want to be  _ insignificant _ .

“We were in the same class at the Garrison,” she reminds through clenched teeth, as she forces herself to look away from Keith and towards the door. She starts moving because they need to  _ get out of here _ , and she recognizes that even as anger burns in her.

“Were you an engineer?” he asks, face blank, as if it wasn’t the most insulting thing said to Lance in the last year. No offense to Hunk.

“No! I’m a pilot,” she throws out the title like it means something--because it does. It means  _ everything _ to Lance.

“Oh!” He finally remembers, eyebrows furrowed as he thinks back, “I remember you. You’re the cargo pilot.”

Lance can’t stop herself from snapping, “Fighter pilot, now. Thanks to you washing out.” Hunk gives her a sharp look because she’s never willingly brought it up before. It’s a sore spot.

To be second best, the second pick for something that dominated her dreams for so many years… Lance is actually surprised at  _ herself _ for bringing it up.

They make it to the rock that Keith had hidden his hoverbike behind. “Congratulations,” Keith remarks flatly.

Lance fights the urge to punch him in his  _ stupid _ , arrogant face.

Hunk comes up behind them from where he and Pidge had been watching the progress of the returning military. “Hey, uh, mind if we catch a ride with you? It’s just that they do  _ not  _ look happy.” He’s jumping from foot to foot as if he can’t stay still.

Lance is trying to get Shiro on the bike when it abruptly jerks back onto the tailfin. She just barely grabs Shiro’s head away from the bit of metal that would have slammed into it, probably giving him a concussion or brain damage.

She turns to glare at Hunk who gives only a sheepish smile in return.

She can hear Hunk worrying about weight bearing and available seating areas but doesn’t pay attention, instead focusing on getting Shiro on the damn bike before the Rovers get back. With Pidge’s help, she manages it a second before Keith fishtails them in a circle and speeds off in the other direction. Lance practically throws Shiro into his arms so she can grab onto  _ anything  _ before she falls off, hers being the most precarious position on the bike.

Once she gets situated--it’s almost like surfing, actually--she turns around to find the Rovers eating up the distance between them easily.

“Uh, can’t this go any faster?” she asks because she'd really like to not go to jail today. A sentiment probably shared by everyone else here.

Keith doesn’t look back as he answers in a flat voice, “We could toss off some nonessential weight,” She actually looks around the bike for a second before she realizes. Her expression sours like she bit into a lemon.

“Oh, haha. That’s an insult. Funny.” Lance replies in the same tone dull tone.

The next three minutes of her life was spent in heart-stopping fear and grudging wonderment. Unsurprisingly, fleeing from the military on a hoverbike with four other people, one of whom was officially  _ dead _ an hour ago, was not how she foresaw her day going.

But the worst part was how  _ beautifully reckless _ Keith was when he drove. Lance wanted to hate him for it but the thing was, he was  _ good. Amazing, _ even _. _ He took turns without thinking because he  _ knew _ he would make it instinctively. He took out Rovers by outmaneuvering them in ways Lance could only  _ dream  _ of doing. And he did it even with the extra weight on the bike depleting his steering and speed, directing Hunk to lean one way or another in order to make up for the deficiency.

It was breathtaking piloting skills and if it had been anyone else Lance would be worshiping the ground at their feet.

But it wasn’t anyone else.

It was  _ Keith _ .

And Lance would sooner dump grape juice on Francisca’s favorite white lace dress before she admits to being impressed by Keith in  _ any _ way.

***

They ended up at some sort of shack in the middle of the desert, the sun just coming over the horizon when Keith finally stopped driving. This time, it’s Hunk who carries Shiro inside and sets him down on a couch that looks like it should’ve been tossed three years ago

It takes Shiro two hours to wake up.

In that time, Lance had been wandering around the shack, poking at this and that, curious as to what the other pilot had been doing for the last year. She was so engrossed in being nosy, that it took her over an hour to realize the tugging sensation in her chest had gotten worse, more insistent and noticeable than it had been when Pidge suggested they check out the ship back at the Garrison.

She’d ignored it up until now, but it was too much to brush away anymore.

It wasn’t painful, and she didn’t even really  _ feel _ it, if that made sense. It just… was. Like something was calling her but she couldn’t really hear the voice or what they were saying. It felt like a pressure behind her sternum, nestled next to her heart that ebbed and flowed in a way that reminded her of the waves on a beach. When she focused on it, it seemed to get stronger, more insistent.

She forces her hands at her sides when Keith and Shiro come back inside, expressions pensive and somber. Keith moves forward with purpose while Shiro looks almost unsure of himself. He looks looser than when he woke up, but now he looks almost lost. It’s such an odd expression to see on him.

Keith stops in front of a covered portion of the wall Lance hadn’t looked behind. When he pulls down the sheet the room goes quiet. The first person to speak is Shiro. “ _ What _ have you been working on?”

“I, I don’t know. I was lost after you--” Keith hard stops as if biting his tongue. He starts again, “After the Garrison. I was drawn out here.” Keith points to a place on the map circled over and over again labeled ‘energy source.’ “It was like some feeling in my chest--” Lance breaths in a sharp breath, hand flying back to her own chest and the accompanying pressure. “--was telling me to search.”

“For what?” Lance croaks out a second before Shiro can, their voices overlapping. Everyone turns to look at her and Keith seems almost annoyed. But he must see something on her face because he answers instead of snapping at her or something. It’s more than Lance would have done for him.

“I didn't really know… until I stumbled across this area. It's an outcropping of giant boulders with caves covered in these, ancient markings. Each tells a slightly different story about a blue lion, but they all share clues leading to some event, some  _ arrival  _ happening last night.” Keith looks to Shiro, eyes wide and vulnerable. “Then you showed up," he says in a voice so quiet, Lance almost doesn’t hear it.

The room is silent. The ‘you could hear a pin drop’ kind of silence.

Lance isn’t one for believing in gods or mythical beings, but this doesn’t mean nothing. Even she can see that. This is too much to be pure coincidence and she's not sure what it means if it isn’t. None of them are.

***

It’s kinda creepy that the graph Hunk made of Voltron’s emission spectrum looks exactly like the outcropping of rock Keith found the cave systems near them.

The feeling of absolute certainty in Lance’s chest that  _ that _ is the place they're looking for is far worse.

***

“Okay…  _ this,  _ is officially freaky,” Lance announces as they make the trek out to the rocks, Hunk’s gizmo going haywire over the alien signatures… or something.

The party of five carefully picked their way down cliff faces and through ravines, following the sound of beeping. It was hot in the midday sun and Lance had taken her jacket off and pulled her hair into a half-up-half-down ponytail to keep it out of her face.

The entire time, her hand barely left her chest, the pressure growing stronger and stronger the farther they walked.

No one wanted to talk much, and that left Lance to bounce around in her own mind. Not a good idea normally, but right then she had something to focus on. She studied the feeling in her chest, the pressure that felt like riding a wave just as it’s about to crest. The anticipation as it built up before it completely engulfed you stretched out and hanging there. Like a thunderstorm about to break, static filling the air and jumping from her fingertips with that not-quite-pain.

It set her teeth on edge, made her apprehensive and jittery like a storm about to break. Her hands were twitching at her sides, tapping and twisting various shapes and patterns on her thigh by the time Hunk finally leads them down into one of the cave systems.

Their merry band of misfits only gets so far inside before stopping in amazement.

Inside, the cave is filled with wondrous carvings. Lions and people and battles from long ago, all painstakingly carved into the rock walls around them.

Lance leans in to study the markings, memories of Sabre ranting about different art styles and impressions of different ancient civilizations tickling the back of her mind. When she’d come back from her studies in India, it had been all she talked about for months. The old carvings and what they could mean and how you could tell them apart, Lance had never seen her sister so  _ animated  _ before.

She was by  _ far, _ no expert--that was her parents and Sabre’s area, not hers--but even she could tell there were quite a few styles lining the walls. Some were flowy and others were jagged and harsh. It was odd; there were too many tribes here. Too many overlaid styles, it didn’t make much sense and when she gets the chance, she’s dragging Sabre back from Africa  _ immediately. _

She’s going to have  _ kittens _ when she sees the cave, Lance could already see her face.

Lance reaches out to trace a carving of a lion lunging with the tip of her finger, the lines sleek and fluid like water. She barely grazes the rock, but it feels like lighting zapping through her hand, arcing up her arm into her chest. The carving glows a brilliant blue, starting from where her fingers had brushed against it and flowing outwards like a ripple in a giant pond.

Within seconds the whole cave was lit up, every carving glowing bright and serene.

“They’ve never done that before.” Keith feels the need to interject and  _ yeah _ , Lance had kind of assumed. Glowing cave drawings seem like something someone would mention beforehand.

She doesn’t get a chance to retort because a second later the floor falls from underneath all of them and they’re free falling through the air. Lance can just barely hear the others screaming over the sound of her own terror before she's submerged in water, the distant sounds of four other splashes around her.

Lance is the first to break the surface, the others following suit a second later. The cave is thunderous with the sound of the crashing waterfall overhead. The sound echoed off the walls and reverberated back to them tenfold, drowning out almost all other sounds.

“Where the hell are we?” Keith calls over the waterfall. He doesn’t look happy as he slowly swims over to where she, Hunk and Pidge are clustered together, hair hanging in his face and scowl firmly set on his features.

Lance looks around the cavern to take in what she's seeing. There was no sunlight, just the quiet blue glow of  _ even more _ carvings on the walls lighting up the dim cave. It was huge, the size of a football stadium in width and height.

It had to be she supposed, because on an island in the middle of the vast pool of water, was something giant and blue and glowing.

_ The Blue Lion. _

The wave in her chest was finally crested, battering against her rib cage and crashing down against her over and over again. Her ears rang with the first crack of thunder as the rain began pouring down. Lance gasped in air as if she was drowning in the feeling.

She was climbing out of the pool before she'd even made a conscious decision too, the other four right behind her.

She was  _ breathtaking. _ Towering over them proudly behind the blue force field, chin raised elegantly. She was mountains worth of sleek edges and graceful design. Bright, ocean blue metal curved gracefully over her head and down her back and chest, light armour plating twinkling in the low light. Interlocking black and white markings cover her muzzle, reminiscent of teeth and an actual lions’ lips. The white brakes away from the black and follows the line of her jaw up to her pointed ears and down across her underbelly and throat. Golds, reds and bright azure decorate her eyes, neck, and wrists like extravagant finery.

She was sleek and ferocious, sat atop the platform decorated with intricate, glowing, blue carvings that spread out around her like a throne of light. It cast soft shadows over her powerful body and caught the light in the gleaming metal.

A deep rumbling filled Lance’s chest, vibrating so hard she feels as if she was going to shake apart.

She slowly steps towards her. The Lion hasn’t moved and lacks actual pupils--her eyes just pure, endless blue--but Lance can  _ feel  _ the weight of her gaze pressing down on her.

“Is this it? Is this the Voltron?” Pidge asks into the silence.

“No,” Lance answers without really thinking about it. “Not all of it at least.”

“Wha-? How do you know?” Keith asks, tone suspicious.

As if like an answer, the cave falls away and Lance is suddenly somewhere else.

Places and visions and people appear and disappear rapidly. Surfacing and falling away faster than Lance can keep track of.

_ Five Lions standing in front of her, roaring as one as they charge into battle. _

_ A giant warrior standing in front of a planet, shielding it from harm. Hundreds of battles fought thousands of years ago. _

_ Planets she'd never seen before but knew somehow. _

_ People she doesn’t know but who spoke with familiarity. _

_ Flying through the stars. _

_ Warriors. Dozens of them dressed for battle and standing beside their Lions. Grim-faced or laughing or snarling. _

Then it’s gone and the somber blue of the cave rushes back at her, the waterfall no longer the only thunderous sound in her ears. Lance gasps and almost falls to the floor with the force the vision had hit her with.

_ “Oh my god. Oh my god. Oh my god-” _

“This is what they’re looking for.”

_ “Incredible.” _

Legs wobbly and hands shaking, Lance stumbles forward to the barrier. In the back of her mind, something whispers too quietly for her to make out any words.

Electricity courses through her the second her hand touches the barrier, zapping across her fingers like lightning. The wall falls and the voice is suddenly crystal clear in the back of her mind.

A voice like the waves of Varadero beach and rain falling against the roof and the river near Hunk’s house.

_ Paladin, paladin, paladin, paladin- _

It sounds almost reverent.

It is not as unsettling as it should be.

The Lion moves with a muted mechanical whirl, tail swishing behind her from where it had been neatly resting across her paws as she climbs to her feet, regal and elegant and an otherworldly kind of graceful. Pidge squeals behind her and grabs her arm, latching onto it with a death-like grip.

Raising her head, the Lion lets out a ground shaking roar, the previously still cave air whipping around them and causing the sound to reverberate off the walls and bounce back at them, making it seem as if there were dozens of her.

The sound wraps around Lance like a promise, fills her chest up so much that for a second, she wonders if roaring back would make it go away.

The others yell at the sudden movement and noise, nervous and confused. Pidge tries to haul her back when the Lion delicately lowers herself to her level, but Lance stays firm. She bows before her and opens her gaping maw, the interlocking design of white and black part, the black ‘teeth’ lining the top like stalagmites.

Lance should be more concerned about walking into the literal belly of the beast than she is.

But she’s always been odd, too impulsive and stubborn, so she runs inside without a thought, a wide grin on her face as she follows the short path to the cockpit. Hunk’s right behind her when she sits down in the pilot seat, her second in command for everything.

She doesn’t expect the seat to move so suddenly and squeals at the movement before laughing loud and free.

She can feel the chuckling in the back of her mind, a soft vibration edging down her neck.

The screen in front of her lights up a light blue, glowing softly as it displays the cave and other such things as if she’s seeing through the Lion’s eyes. All the controls are to her exact measurements, the grips formed to her hand as if they were molded for her specifically.

Her hands just barely brush the grips but it’s the same electricity from before, intensified. Like pure energy flowing through her, as if she’d downed three cups of coffee in as many minutes. Her chest buzzed and it was as if she could feel all the stars in the sky and every atom of water in the universe.

Her laugh turns breathlessly, unbelieving.

“Hey baby girl,” Lance breathes, voice no louder than a whisper as she runs her hand along the control panel. “You’re a beauty, aren’t you?”

The Lion purrs in the back of her mind, a deep rumbling that sounds like waves crashing over themselves. “ _ I am much older than you, dear paladin.”  _ An all-encompassing affection swathes her psyche. _ “Thousands of years, in fact. Older than your oldest civilizations.” _

Lance’s mouth goes dry at that. The sheer power and wisdom within this great beast utterly terrifying. And it’s talking to  _ her _ as if she’s special. As if she is the most important thing to her.

She doesn’t know how to respond to that, so she does what she always does when unsure of a path. Pulls confidence over her like a well-worn coat and fakes it.

She practically purrs at the Lion, “You don’t look a day over twenty, my love.”  Her voice is too shaky for her tastes, but the Lion hums pleasantly at the back of her mind and Lance grins.

“Lance?” Hunk interrupts, voice weary and tired as the others crowd inside.

She turns to him slowly, blinking at him with bright blue eyes and a small smile. “Yes,  _ darling _ ?” she drawls sedately.

Hunk wrinkles his nose slightly, sensing something is off about her. “Are you  _ flirting  _ with the giant robot cat?”

She raises an elegant eyebrow at him. She knows it’s elegant because she practiced it in the mirror for hours after she’d seen Francisca do it and send a boy falling over his own feet in response. “Do you really need to ask?”

“Sometimes I just hope you know?” He tells her tiredly. Lance laughs which only makes his expression fall further.

The Lion recaptures her attention with a sensation not unlike a cat pushing against your leg, but instead, it’s her mind. Lance jumps a bit at the odd feeling.  _ “Come, my paladin. Show me how you  _ fly,” she challenges. It’s playful and such a very  _ human _ thing to say _. _ It takes her a second to realize, and, well. Lance had never been one to turn a girl down.

That’d be downright unchivalrous.

She follows the gentle prods and pokes as the Lions guides her hands over the controls. She instructs with a gentle crooning that reminds her of starlight and murmuring creek beds. After a second, Lance grabs the controls in a confidently firm hold.

She’s never flown an alien spaceship before. But she has a feeling they’ll be no problem here.

“Okay, let’s do…  _ this.” _ was the only warning she gave the others before thrusting the controls forward and sending the Lion through the wall so quickly Lance hit the back of her seat. Pidge and Hunk squealed while Shiro and Keith made much more dignified grunts of surprise.

She barely registers the damage she must’ve done to the cave walls and carvings because she’s suddenly in the open air and can  _ feel _ the elation the Lion feels and being in the sun once more, how she revels in it.

It rubs off on Lance who was already beaming. Flying the Lion is  _ exhilarating. _

It’s everything the simulator isn’t, everything the fastest planes on earth isn’t. It’s freedom and happiness. It’s the joy she gets every time she flew as a kid but multiplied. She spins and twirls, backflips and does figure eights.

She whoops and hollers along with the Lion as they play along the desert terrain.

The others are not as excited about it as she is.

“Make it stop! Oh,  _ Akua, _ make it  _ stop,” _ Hunk calls from Lance’s left where he has her armrest in a death grip. He’s looking distinctly green, even with his tan skin. Lance winces, she’d forgotten about his motion sickness in all the excitement.

_ “If Yellow’s kit throws up in me, I will spit him out,” _ The Lion says matter of factly in her mind.

“Yellow’s kit?” Lance asks confused, as she evens out their flight pattern. She looks back at her best friend confusedly. “You mean Hunk?”

Now Lance is thinking about him with tiny kitten ears and toe beans and as a little chubby kitten that still has the headband. It makes her want to coo at him.

“What about me?” The boy in question asks weakly, still swaying oddly even though he’s on his knees.

Lance pats his arm comfortingly, _ “Nada, cariño. _ Just calm down,” she pauses. “and don’t throw up.”

_ “Paladin _ ,” Her Lion sounds tense and with the slightest hint of contempt dripping from her voice. Lance’s shoulders go up, back straightening in response.

“What, baby girl? What’s happened?”

“What is the lion saying? What’s wrong?” Pidge asks and Lance raises a hand at him, silently asking for a second. Pidge huffs offended and annoyed but obediently waits.

_ “Galra.”  _ She growls, the sound harsh and scraping.

“‘Galra’? What the fuck is a galra?”

_ “Galra,” _ Shiro repeats, voice low and panicked. Lance turns around to look at him and finds him staring back at her. The pink scar on his face a stark contrast to the deathly pale skin around it. Lance’s gut clenches at the expression. Something that can terrify Shiro is not something she wants to meet ever.

Out of the corner of her eye, she can see Keith reach out to the older man, bringing Shiro out of his thoughts.

_ “The galra are conquerors, destroyers of the universe. They are plagues.”  _ Blue shows her blurred images, memories of long ago, battles won and lost. They all show the same thing; cruel creatures intent on control. “ _ They are currently approaching your Earth.” _

A screen flashes to her right, indicating an object heading toward the  _ very _ quickly and confirming what Blue just said.

_ “What?!”  _ Lance cries, yanking the controls to come to a grinding halt. She stops so abruptly, Blue skids across the desert sand, tumbling over herself before coming to a stop in a decidedly ungraceful heap. The passengers inside are jostled around violently and curse at Lance and her driving skills.

Blue huffs at the rough treatment but stands up without a problem. She shakes herself off harder than necessary to the annoyance of those in the cockpit. “ _ Calm down, my Paladin. These  _ filth _ are of little concern to you,” _ she tells her primly.

Lance whispers under her breath fiercely, voice strained, as she tries to keep the words from the others. “Baby girl, there are evil warlords headed for my home. It is  _ very much _ a concern.” She can feel the worry and terror and panic welling up within him. Her  _ family _ is on this planet. Oh  _ god. _

Her lion rumbles at her, concerned at the force of her emotions. Then apparently coming to a conclusion, she tells her, “ _ Then we will get rid of them,” _ before jumping into the sky without warning.

“Where the hell are you going?” Keith demands, his grip on the back of her seat so tight Lance can hear it creaking. But Lance doesn’t have the energy to snap at him right now, she's too busy trying to shove the panic down from where it’s crawling up her throat.

“There’s a Galra ship approaching Earth. Blue says we’re getting rid of them.”

“What?” Pidge snaps, “What is it saying exactly?”

“It’s not like,  _ words _ words. She’s a lion, she can’t exactly  _ talk _ ,” Pidge glares at her and Lance glares back, neither willing to back down until Hunk speaks again.

“Well, this is the weapon they want right? Why don’t we just give it to them?”

Panic spikes in her chest and she doesn’t think it’s entirely hers.

Lance flips around in her seat so fast she gets whiplash, “No!” she shouts at the same time Shiro says, “You don’t understand,” in a sharp voice.

The four of them look at her questioningly--Hunk more worried than the others--and Lance realizes she might be a bit overprotective for someone who only met her alien, lion-shaped weapon-ship fifteen minutes ago.

“Uh,” she wets her lips, thinking carefully. “She doesn’t want to go with them. The Galra they’re not- Blue says they’re bad.  _ Very  _ bad. Right, Shiro?”

His face goes grim. “Yeah, I’d say they’re pretty bad.”

“Uh,” Hunk raises his hand, “how bad? Like, exactly?”

Shiro looks at him, eyes piercing, “They spread like a plague, conquering planet after planet. They destroy all who oppose them and won’t stop until everything is either destroyed or theirs to control. There is no reasoning with them. There is no mercy. They are the living nightmare of the whole universe and there is  _ no _ waking up.”

The air in the cockpit is tense and heavy. Lance who never turned away from Hunk, watches his face slowly morph to a mix of sheepishness and terror.

Lance squeezes his hand comfortingly.

“Okay, uh, that’s pretty bad. So that’s a no on the giving vicious alien species advanced, super weapons. What are we gonna do instead?” he asks.

Hunk doesn’t get his answer.

Because at that moment, Blue finally breaks through the atmosphere and then there is nothing but open space in every direction with Earth laid out below. The part that catches her attention though, is the warship floating menacingly in front of them. It creeps closer and closer and the air in the cockpit is thick with fear.

The others are tensed behind her, all of them staring dumbly at the ship more advanced than anything Earth could even  _ dream _ of.

Lance feels like panicking. Panicking sounds like a great idea and if the way her heart is pounding at her rib cage id anything to go by, it agrees.

Having a panic attack and curling up in the corner for an hour or so, sounds like a grand idea.  _ Just like the good old days. _

Lance is pulled out of her dark thoughts when Blue shouts at her.  _ “Paladin, move!” _

She jerks the controls without thought, dodging the laser beam directed at them by a hair's breadth. The warship is firing on them and Lance’s heart hammers in her throat as she twists and spins, dancing away from the oncoming fire as best she can.

The cockpit is chaos. The others are screaming, trying to back seat pilot or just making unintelligible noises.

Pidge’s voice, unsurprisingly, rises above the rest. “Lance, if I die, I’m coming back and haunting your ass  _ so hard!” _

“ _ Language _ , Pidgeon!” she screams back as she does a barrel roll away from a giant blast headed for their chest. “Also,  _ hey! _ Baby Blue and I got this covered!”

“This isn’t the simulator, man!”

_ No shit.  _ Lance thinks. The simulator had never felt this fluid, this  _ intense _ . It is everything real flying feels like and more.

Instead of saying that, she laughs tightly, pulling her easygoing persona more securely around her. “Well, that’s good! I always wrecked the simulator!”

_ “Paladin, we must take the fight away from your home planet. We can lead them away, it is not your planet they truly want, but me. If we run, they  _ will _ follow.” _

Lance nods, “You got it, sugar.” She pushes them forward, charging the warship and slashing along the side with Blue’s wicked claws before dancing away from the laser beams and shooting off past them, away from Earth.

“I hope you know it’s  _ really  _ weird hearing you have only half a conversation,” yells Hunk as he hangs on for dear life.

It takes a heart-stopping second, but the warship does give chase, doing a one-eighty frighteningly fast and rushing after them. Lance realizes with dread that they are much slower than them. The warship is gaining, eating up the distance between them like it means nothing.

Keith speaks again, the first time since they left the atmosphere. “Where are we?”

Lance doesn’t answer him, half because she’s busy piloting a ship and half because she’s petty and doesn’t care. Instead, it’s Shiro that answers.

“We’re by Kerberos,” he sounds surprised and awed, gazing around the cockpit disbelievingly. The feeling is shared by all five of them.

“What?!” Pidge exclaims. “It takes our ships  _ months _ to get out this far. That was five  _ seconds _ .”

Lance beams with pride. Her Baby Girl is so  _ fast _ .

In the space between one second and the next, a giant swirling mass of… something, flares to life in front of them. It’s huge and unsettling and a deep inky black that absorbs all light. For a second Lance believes it to be a black hole before she realizes that the thought is ridiculous.

“What is  _ that _ ?” Hunk asks, voice shrill. He grabs her upper arm, choosing to hold onto that instead of the armrest. He squeezes tightly, just on the right side of painful. Still cautious of his strength even when terrified.

_ “Paladin,” _ Blue stresses. _ “You need to go through the wormhole.” _

“I need to do  _ what  _ now?”

“What is the lion saying?” Shiro asks, the calm, confident leader they need. Lance doesn’t even think to question his authority as she normally does with anyone else who tries to boss her around.

“She wants us to fly through the wormhole.”

“Where does it go?”

Her Lion stays silent despite her mental prodding. “I- I don’t know. Shiro, you’re the senior officer. What do we do?”

He’s quiet for a moment and Lance is hyper-aware of how much time they have before they reach the wormhole anyway or get run over by a warship. Her fingers tap anxiously on the grips, waiting.

“The Lion knows more than we do. I say we follow her,” he stops and looks at each other them, children compared to him. “But we’re a team, we decide  _ together.” _

The other three look at each other unsure of their decisions. Lance holds her tongue. Her decision was made the second Shiro agreed with Blue, but he also said decide together.

She knows what they’ll choose, but it’s not about that. That’s not why Shiro asked for their opinion.

Slowly, the three all nod to her. She breathes a sigh of relief and pushes Blue faster towards the wormhole, hoping to make it there before the warship is upon them.

The grins she wears is far from genuine and her voice is too flat, but she makes the joke anyway.

“Looks like we’re skipping class tomorrow.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was done with no beta we die like men.
> 
> TRANSLATIONS:  
> (roughly) "God! Then mom is going to kill me and-" -Hunk, Hawaiian  
> "Oh my god! I can't believe it!" -Lance, Spanish  
> "Son of a bitch!" "The nerve of that bastard!" -Lance, Spanish  
> "Nothing, sweetheart." -Lance, Spanish


	2. Empires Rise (but so does a new dawn)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alien princesses are a lot meaner (and prettier) than Lance has been led to believe.

The universe is laid out before her.

Thousands of impossible colors and shapes dance in front of her eyes.

Her vision swims but the world is as crystal clear as it has never been before.

Things whisper just beyond her reach. Too quiet to hear properly but if she  _ just reaches out, she might- _

The stars catch her attention, singing to her even though everything is silent. They make no sound but are thunderous as they cry into the nothing, sorrowful and happy and everything in-between.

Time and distance mean nothing. A planet is both light years and inches away from her open hand.

Her companions are here-not-here. She doesn’t know where they are, doesn’t know how long they’ve been there, how long they’ll stay,  _ doesn’t know where she is compared to everything else, can’t understand the Starsong and the colors and space  _ **_and-_ **

And then she’s spit out of the wormhole, stomach in her throat and her head pounding.

Lance groans at the overwhelming feeling of _wrong wrong_ ** _wrong_** the wormhole gave her. The others echo her sentiment wearily from where they’re in varying stages of ‘sprawled across the floor.’

Hunk’s grip on her arm tightens a fraction and it’s the only warning she gets before he’s puking all over the floor, the rancid smell of vomit filling the cockpit and doing nothing to help her queasy stomach. Lance screws her eyes shut in an effort to not follow his example, pulling her feet up onto her chair to avoid getting any on her shoes.

Blue growls in the back of her mind, a deep annoyed rumbling as she snaps her teeth at Lance. She tries to soothe her Lion, gently explaining he couldn’t help it and that throwing her best friend into the void of space would make her really,  _ really _ sad.

“Oh, god. I’m so,  _ so _ , sorry,” Hunk mumbles from where he’s still crouched on the floor.

Pidge just sighs, “I’m honestly surprised it took you this long.” His face is pinched, nose wrinkled and hand covering his mouth as he rolls his eyes.

Lance groans and reaches out to pat him on the back. “Just try not to do that again buddy. Blue doesn’t really like the whole, ‘vomiting in her head’ thing.”

Hunk goes pale. Well, as pale as he can get with his mocha dark skin. “Oh god. I am really,  _ really _ sorry.”

_ “You better clean that up when we land,” _ Her lion growls but Lance is already nodding her head, resigned. She’s just tired at this point. How many hours has she been awake?

“Of course, Baby Blue,” she says placatingly before the words actually register. When they do, she sits up straighter. “Wait, land? Where are we landing?”

Her Lion huffs, “ _ Open your eyes, Paladin.” _

A planet almost blooms into existence before them, though more likely they just hadn’t noticed it was there. It looks like Earth, the land just twisted weirdly.

Lance soon discovers that the ride  _ into  _ an atmosphere is much bumpier than the ride  _ out  _ of one.

The others crowd around the back of her seat, forcing her to lean forward or be squashed. As it is, she’s bent uncomfortably, and people need to move  _ right  _ the fuck now.

“Personal space!” she yells. “That’s a thing we should have, like, right now. And Hunk--buddy, darling, light of my life--I love you, but your breath is  _ rank, _ and you need to get away from my face. No offense.”

Hunk does indeed backup along with the others, but he keeps his hand on her shoulder, the other on her seat back. He looks over the screen of the planet, the terrain just slightly off. Just a little wrong and different than anything you’d see on Earth.

He gets that look on his face and she knows what going to come out of his mouth before he even says anything.

She’s mid-sigh when he speaks. “Okay, but is anyone else suddenly having second thoughts about this whole thing? Like listening to a weird robot cat? Cause, you know, ‘stranger danger’ and all that.”

Lance purses her lips and Hunks second-guessing, a trait he’s had since she first met him and, despite her best efforts, has retained no matter what she does.

“You’re tiptoeing again, Baby doll. You need to  _ strut,” _ Lance drawls, easy and bright while Hunk wrinkles his nose at the long since familiar phrase. “ _ Besides _ , she got us away from that alien warship, didn’t she?”

Hunk gives her a look that says she’s missing the point, but her attention is stolen when Keith straightens fully, a scowl firmly set across his mouth. Lance idly wonders if it’ll get stuck that way. Then she wonders if it already  _ had. _

“I don’t know if you noticed or not,” he says annoyed and Lance has to close her eyes to stop herself from hitting the arrogant off his face. “but we’re  _ in _ an alien warship.”

Lance shoots him a look over her shoulder, smirking challengingly because it’s better than the sneer she  _ wants _ the throw at him. “What? You scared?” she taunts, and she readies them to land.

He scoffs and Lance knows without turning around that he’s crossed his arms. “With you at the helm? Terrified.” His voice is flat, with just the barest edge. A not-threat. A warning?

“Alright! Knock it off you two,” Shiro interrupts.

Lance bares her teeth in a facsimile of a smile and the grips creak under her hands from where she’s gripping them so tightly. Hunk doesn’t so much glare at Keith--he’s too nice for that--but he does look severely disappointed. Pidge, on the other hand, has no such reservations of going bitch face on someone and hits him with all he has.

Her Lion growls loudly in the back of her mind and Lance gets the feeling she would be pacing back and forth agitatedly if she could.  _ “Red’s cub should show some  _ respect _. His bond isn’t even solidified yet! He’s lucky he isn’t  _ my _ Paladin or else I’d-”  _ Blue rants in her head.

Quietly, Lance agrees with her, but it isn’t Blue’s battle to fight. It’s hers.

So, she takes a deep breath and rubs her thumb along the grips, an action that calms her and her Lion.  _ Another time, _ she promises. Her Lion grumbles but backs down.

Gently, Blue touches down in front of the castle, padding forward surprisingly lightly for something that weighs well over a ton. Once she reaches the courtyard area, she paws at the ground before settling herself into a comfortable lounging position, paws crossed in front of her regally as she waits.

Shiro grabs the attention of everyone in the cockpit, looking them all in the eye individually.

He’s handling this a lot better than she thought he would; then she thought any of them should be. This is a really weird situation okay? She’s  _ definitely _ going to freak out about this later and she’d feel a lot better about it if someone was as weirded out as her.

“If we're going to get through this, we do it together. Lance,” she straightens at her name. “Where are we?”

“That’s a good question,” Lance replies, leaning forward to fiddle with the control panel. She taps here and there to bring up different readings and information screens but none of them are what she’s looking for. It takes her a few seconds but eventually she finds the map Blue used earlier.

She leans casually against the control panel, mindful of buttons, and reads out what she sees. “It says the planet’s known as Arus. Or used to be at least.” She flicks through a couple more things before Blue takes pity on her and just pops up the information she wanted. “Uh, breathable atmosphere and fairly Earth-like gravity and pressure though you might feel a bit on the lighter side. Normal temperature range, if a bit hot.  _ Hum-da-dum.  _ All safe to leave I guess,” she shrugs turning back to the others.

She finds Pidge looking at her with his face screwed up in confusion. “How are you  _ reading _ that?” He leans into her bubble in order to read the screen himself. But when he pulls back, he just looks more confused than before.

Lance looks back at the panel and everything displayed across it in perfect Spanish. Pidge knows he speaks that language and it’s easy enough to recognize.

Lance tells him as much.

_ “That,” _ Pidge waves a hand at the screen. “is not Spanish. That is some gibberish right there. There aren’t even any proper letters!”

Lance’s brow furrows and gives Pidge a look that tells him she thinks he’s crazy, but when she looks to the others, they’re just as confused. Hunk has actually leaned in and started pressing buttons and tapping screens, though nothing happens when he touches them to his disappointment.

_ “The panel is designed with the same connection to you as I have,” _ Blue informs helpfully. _ “Only you may speak to me, and so only you can understand the panel unless you were to give permission to another paladin. Which you will  _ not.”

“Oh,” Lance says intelligently. Taken aback by the force in her Lions voice at that last bit. What’s wrong with letting someone else read the panel? But she doesn’t really understand alien etiquette so maybe it means something? She’ll ask later. “The panel’s psychic, I guess.”

Pidge looks at her like she's crazy but also like he is very interested in the implications of this discovery. Before he can bombard Lance with questions though, Shiro decides they should head inside the castle and ushers them all out.

Lance trails her hands across the control panel as she leaves, pointedly ignoring the puddle of vomit. She’ll clean it up later after she finds a mop or something.

Do they have mops in space?

Space mops?

Lance shoves that idea off for later.

“Keep your guard up,” Shiro tells them gruffly, stance tense as he leaves the Lion.

Pidge looks over at him questioningly, “Is there something wrong?”

Shiro looks down at him for a moment before continuing to walk forward, back straight and face grim. A soldier's stance, Lance realizes. “I’ve lost my crew once. I’m not letting it happen again.”

Pidge looks as stricken as Lance feels, but nods stiffly, continuing on with his head staring at the ground.

Once they all have exited Blue, her Lion raises her head above them and roars. Both Shiro and Keith drop into defensive positions, Keith going so far as to move to grab the knife strapped to his hip. Pidge curls inwards at the noise and it startles Hunk so badly he  _ leaps _ behind Shiro to babble about being eaten and dying on alien planets.

Lance hadn’t really moved, almost expecting the noise a split second before it happened. She just raises an unimpressed eyebrow at all of them as the castle doors open with a loud scraping sound.

She can tell Blue is judging them too by the tilt of her head when she settles it back on to her massive paws.

Hunk blushes madly, “Oh. The door is open. Uh, sorry again, Lion.” He shuffles his feet nervously as he stands back up. Lance shakes her head at her friend’s antics and walks over to him. She pats him on the back and smiles up at him, ushering them towards the others who were heading to the door.

“It’s no problem, Honeycomb. You’ll get used to it eventually.”

Hunk gives her the ‘I don’t really believe you but you’re my best friend, so I’ll trust you anyway’ look. Lance softens and hip checks him. He doesn’t even stumble.  _ “It’ll be okay,” _ she tells him in Hawaiian and watches as his shoulders visibly droop.

They did this a lot. Switch languages in the middle of conversations. Most of the time it was comforting in a way, a subtle way to say, ‘you’re not alone.’ Other times it’s just nice to be able to talk shit right in front of someone, though Hunk normally frowned upon that use of it.

_ “How can you be sure?” _

_ “Because we’re together,”  _ she says simply.  _ “And as long as I have you, I know it’ll all be okay in the end.” _

Hunk gives her a small grin and Lance returns it, bigger and brighter.

The five of them step into a large circular room with towering ceilings and a grand staircase that lead to a second level above them, an interior balcony that surrounded the room. The air was stale and heavy with dust and Lance had to hold back a sneeze. The walls and floor all seem to be made of white marble with elegant accents here and there, but it’s hard to see in the low light.

“Hello?” Hunk called suddenly, startling Lance who was still right beside him. His voice echoes back at them eerily and Lance shoots him a look. He just shrugs.

The five of them stand there for a minute, all of them on edge, waiting for something to jump out at them. But the castle remained lifeless. Dark and musty and void of life.

After another minute of waiting, Lance starts forward, hands twitchy again and just ready to get this over with. They weren’t going to learn anything by just standing there, that’s for sure.

She makes it two steps before she activates something in the middle of the room, a loud  _ zap _ filling the air as the lights suddenly flickered on, shrouding the room in an unnatural, dark blue glow.

A crisp, even, female-sounding voice from nowhere speaks in a language none of them understand.

“Whoa!” Glowing light climbs from the bottom of her feet, up her legs and torso before dissipating at the top of her head. The effect is mirrored on the others as well.

Shiro eyes the light warily, “What do you want with us? Why are we here?” he asks the voice, but it doesn’t respond to him.

The dark blue light in the room abruptly shifts to a more natural, yellow light. “Scan complete. Welcome, Blue Paladin,” the voice greets in English this time, her voice smooth but emotionless. “Please make your way to the Sleep Chamber, posthaste.”

Lance blinks at the ceiling confusedly. “Uh, where is the Sleep Chamber?”

At the question, more lights flare along the walls, leading down a certain hallway. Lance assumes that’s where the ‘Sleep Chamber’ lies.

“Thank you?” she says unsure. The voice doesn’t reply.

Lance looks to the others helplessly. Shiro, their de facto leader, is tense and has his hands clenched into fists but he straightens up and is the first to walk forward.

Everyone follows silently.

***

The hallways twist and turn into a maze around them, so much so that Lance isn’t sure she could find her way back unaided. The lights lead them to another large circular room. This one has strange, round panels lining the floor and a console in the center of it all.

Pidge makes a beeline for it, curiosity sparking in his eyes before anyone can stop him. He taps away at it before it suddenly activates, causing them all to jump.

A low hissing sound fills the room as the panels in the ground open to reveal two futuristic pod-like objects rising from below.

Lance steps back in surprise when she sees that there are two  _ people  _ standing within them, eye closed and seemingly not breathing. The glass is foggy and it’s hard to see inside but it looks like a man and a woman, both of them standing over six feet tall.

“Oh,  _ Akua.  _ They aren’t  _ dead,  _ are they?” Hunk panics.

Suddenly, one of them opens, revealing the woman. Her eyes pop open and she breathes out a word none of them understand, distress evident in her tone as she reaches out for no one. She leans forward too far and Lance shoots forward to stop her from crashing into the ground. Her weight crashes into her and Lance almost falls to the ground.

The woman is disoriented and confused as she looks up at her, the grip on her upper arms just shy of bruising.

She has sharp features and dark skin, darker than hers or Hunk’s. Sharp, sickle-shaped, pink markings line the high rise of her cheeks and her eyes are a blue so bright they almost seem to be glowing with pupils that gleam purple in the light. A mass of curly, white hair falls over her shoulders and is only held back from her face by a golden circlet decorated with sapphire like gemstones.

When she looks around the room distractedly before finally settling on Lance, she can see long, pointed, elf-like ears poking out from under her hair.

She has an otherworldly sort of grace that reminds her of Blue and a face that could go on the cover of magazines.

In a word, she’s beautiful. Lance begins to give her a winning smirk and a one-liner, but the woman’s voice stops her. She speaks a language that Lance has never heard before and has a sound to it that almost reminds her of French but softer, smoother.

The woman looks at her expectantly and her expression falls as Lance’s brow furrows. The woman cocks her head to the side and speaks again, this time a rougher sounding language, then one that seemed to consist of mostly clicks and chirping.

“Uh, I’m sorry. I don’t understand you like, at all.” Lance apologizes. And the woman’s eyes light up before swooping in and kissing her. She can hear the others make noises of alarm and Lance’s eyes bug out of her head when she feels the woman’s tongue brush against her lips before she pulls back completely.

She stands up on her own, hand still on Lance’s shoulders. Lance has to crane her neck up to look at her as she stands an entire head above her.

The woman’s eyebrows furrow together as she licks her lips in thought.

“Um?” Lance asks, thoroughly confused and feeling vaguely violated. “What the fresh hell was that?”

The woman blinks in surprise before her face grows thunderous. The hands on her shoulders turn painful and in the blink of an eye, the woman has a hand clamped on her wrist. Lance cries out as she spins her and forces her to her knees with her arm twisted between her shoulder blades.

“Who are you?” she asks through clenched teeth, voice strangely musical even as she vibrates with anger. “What are you doing here and where is the King?”

Hunk steps forward to help Lance but the woman pulls Lance’s arm further behind her, causing her to cry out. Hunk stops dead in his tracks.

“We were brought here by the Blue Lion!” Lance gasps, struggling a bit in her hold.

“Liar!” the woman spits.

“We aren’t lying!”

“What happened to her paladin?” she demands. “Where is the  _ King?” _

Shiro steps forward, hands up placatingly and his body language non-threatening. “We don’t know what you’re talking about. We aren’t here to do you any harm, perhaps you can tell us who you are. We might be able to help.”

She can’t see behind her as to what the other is doing or what her face looks like, but after a second, she drops Lance. Hunk is by her side in an instant, sending the woman unkind looks as his hands flutter around Lance’s shoulder.

She smooths down her regal silver dress, not a hair out of place despite how she just threw Lance to the ground. “I am Princess Allura Raunne of Altea and this is the Castle of Lions.” Something flickers across her face before she moves over to the console Pidge had been fiddling with earlier. “I need to find where we are and how long we’ve been asleep.”

She places her hands on the panel and it begins to light up a calming blue, screens like the console in the Blue Lion appear before her. As she taps away, the same fizzling noise of the pod opening sounds behind Lance and she whips around, Hunk still holding her shoulders.

The man standing behind them had slicked back, fiery orange hair and skin the same shade as Lance. A large mustache adorned his upper lip and the same sickle-shaped markings lined his cheeks, his being a light blue. Expressive, purple eyes with the same reflective pupils of the princess were rimmed by deep laugh lines, denoting the man as a creature of happiness. Though at the moment he looked to be frozen in confliction. He stood even taller than the Princess and was dressed in blue, formal attire.

He reminded Lance of her own  _ Tío _ , though the two shared almost no resemblance besides the mustache.

The second the man’s eyes landed on her, they widened, and he shot forward out of his pod to lunge at her. Hunk pulled her out of the way, the two scrambling over each other and getting out of the way just in time. The man flew past them and slammed into the pod Allura had come out of.

“What  _ is it _ with aliens attacking me today?” Lance laments loudly, dropping her head on Hunk’s shoulder as the man shouts at her in some alien language.

Allura speaks up from where she’s at the console, telling him something in the same language. He then stops and looks at her, eyes squinted in an almost comical fashion.

Lance stares back challengingly, “I better  _ not  _ be kissed again. I still don’t know what the hell that was about  _ last _ time.”

Luckily, instead of swooping down and making her extremely uncomfortable--because honestly, he looked old enough to be her  _ father _ \--he saunters over to Shiro and plants one on him. If the way Shiro’s eyes bulge out of his head, the man is using a bit more tongue than Allura had.

The man pulls back with a wet  _ pop _ , a smile on his face. “Well! Now that we got that all squared away!” he says, in accented English, completely ignoring Shiro’s stricken expression. He almost sounds British but just a shade… off somehow. “Terribly sorry about that, old fellow, but had to be done.”

Shiro’s mouth opens and closes without anything coming out of it.

His face would almost be funny if it wasn’t for how Lance related wholeheartedly.

Allura gasps from where she stood at the console, a desperate broken thing. The man is across the room and at her side in an instant, Lance hadn’t even seen him move.

“What is it? What’s wrong, princess?” he asks worried, steady and fluttering around her at the same time.

_ “Coran,” _ she whispers, voice thick and sounding utterly  _ shattered _ . “We’ve been asleep for  _ ten thousand  _ years. Altea is- It’s  _ gone. _ The planet’s  _ destroyed _ . _ ” _ She brings a hand up to her mouth, eyes wet with unshed tears. Coran’s face falls, gaunt and pale as he stares at her. The two stare at each other in horror and pain and the air turns icy and thick with the weight of their grief.

Lance balks, tears coming unbidden to her eyes at the overwhelming grief in the room. An entire planet,  _ destroyed. _ Her head goes in circles and she feels suddenly sick. All she can think is that if they hadn’t found Blue, that could’ve happened to Earth.

Because Allura might not have said, but it doesn’t take a genius to figure out who did that to her home.

Hunk pulls her tighter against him and she doesn’t resist.

“Our home,” Allura forces out, “The entire solar system just-” her voice hitches on what is probably a sob, but the princess swallows it back. She slams her hand down on the console hard, face twisting into a sneer.  _ “Zarkon.” _ She spits the word like it’s poison on her tongue and Lance flinches back at the hate in her tone, the utter fury.

Coran wraps his arms around her, tucking her under his chin easily and cradling the back of her head. She is stiff for only a moment before she’s shaking so hard, Lance is worried she’ll fall apart.

She looks away from the tender moment, feeling as if she’s intruding on a deeply private moment between the two.

Her eyes land on Shiro and she’s not sure if it's better.

He’s standing there, body coiled like a spring and staring into the middle distance as if nothing else exists. His face is pale again and she feels the worry in her chest stake a claim.

He looks exactly like her  _ Pipo _ . Broken in ways that Lance can’t fix with a joke or smile. Beaten down by things she’ll never understand.

She nudges Hunk gently, trusting him to understand.

She can feel Hunk shifting and following her gaze. Can feel the exact moment he registers Shiro and what it must mean.

He’s looking down at her, she knows he is, but she doesn’t remove her gaze from Shiro. Quietly, so only she can hear, he asks,  _ “¿Estás seguro?” _ She nods. She doesn’t think she’s been more sure of anything in a while. He mutters something that sounds like  _ ‘You and your strays,’  _ before he tells her, “Whatever you need, okay?”

Lance doesn’t answer.

She watches, mind spinning as she thinks over strategies and plans. She’d never been good at minding her own business, it was kind of her thing in the family. A skill she’d honed in her seventeen years of life.

A skill she’ll be using to the best of her ability in the near future.

***

Twenty minutes later, all the humans are gathered on the floor eating food Coran had brought them, watching the ginger alien try and get the princess to eat. She’s not very receptive to his advances, choosing to do anything  _ other  _ than eat really.

Eventually, Coran gives up and joins the humans on the floor around the console, a sort of pinched expression on his face.

Shiro clears his throat, “I can’t believe your civilization created all of  _ this,  _ ten thousand years ago. It must have been an incredible place.” Lance isn’t sure if he’s trying to lighten the mood or distract Coran, but either way it fails horribly.

Coran smiles wistfully before it falls from his face and he looks sadder than before. “It was. But now we’re the only ones left. The last alteans alive.”

Lance kind of wants to punch Shiro in the shoulder for being so tactless, hero or no hero.

But, something about what Coran said irks her. The hopelessness in his voice, the surety of his entire civilization just being  _ gone _ . They couldn’t  _ all  _ be gone. If the princess and Coran escaped there had to be others out there, right?

She doesn’t realize she’s spoken out loud until Hunk elbows her in the side and she sees the sharp looks she’s receiving from the other humans.

“What do you mean?” Coran asks, voice desperately hopeful and trying to hide it. Behind him, Allura had stopped moving, frozen as she listens.

Lance’s throat goes dry. She hadn’t meant to speak, hadn’t meant to put herself in this situation. She doesn’t know Coran or Allura well enough yet, hasn’t gotten an accurate read on them yet.

But… she can’t say nothing.

“I only mean… I mean you had to have people off-planet, right?” she starts sounding so unsure she wants to hit herself. She was supposed to be  _ confident _ goddammit. She tries again. “It’s just, you have all this technology around you. Even on Earth, when a civilization was wiped out, there were people who survived, or remnants left behind. And there is even more of a chance you survived because of your resources. There has to be  _ someone _ out there, is what I’m saying.”

Pidge tilts his head thoughtfully. “You know, that actually makes sense.” Lance looked over at him curiously. He never agreed with her ideas. Not until yesterday at least. Maybe aliens were the exception? “You were a highly advanced race. You had to have diplomats or merchants who weren’t there. Or even as Lance said, people who could escape as you did.”

Coran looks off in thought, the corners of his eyes a little happier. Allura on the other hand, seems wistful and sad, shaking her head harshly before returning to her buttons.

“Even if they are out there, we have no way of finding them. We’re still alone,” she says a tad harshly.

Lance face twists, her hands clenched in her lap. She regrets bringing this up.

The room is silent, no one sure how to break the tension.

“You’re never truly alone,” Hunk says after a moment and Lance looks to him in surprise, he’s staring down at the goo in front of him with an oddly serious expression. He looks up at Allura, his eyes flicking to Lance for a fraction of a second and Lance sees something there that’s achingly familiar but can’t name. “ _ Ohana _ is always connected, even in death. You’ll find them again, you just have to wait.”

Allura purses her lips but doesn’t respond. Lance has a distinct feeling that she doesn’t  _ really  _ understand what Hunk said but she looks pensive anyway.

“Okay, so this is  _ really  _ bugging me though,” Pidge announces dramatically, drawing everyone’s attention towards himself.  _ “How _ in the  _ hell  _ do you speak English?”

That… is actually a good question. The humans all turn towards the aliens, curious.

“Oh! I never explained, how rude of me.” Allura starts, a blush coating her cheeks as she looks mildly horrified. “Our species has the ability to learn languages from the act of kissing. It is one reason of many that our species became such good diplomats and merchants.”

“Oh good, I was wondering what the whole kissing thing was about. I thought you guys were just an exhibitionist species.”

Allura and Coran blink at her in surprise and Pidge reaches around Hunk in order to smack her upside the head.

“Shut  _ up _ , Lance.”

“Hey! You weren’t the one she locked lips with! I was mildly terrified the whole time.”

“My apologies, Lance,” Allura tells her earnestly. “I had not known the implications of such an act at the time.”

“Nah, it’s fine.” Lance waves her apology off, mostly joking anyway. “Normally I’d demand dinner first but you’re pretty enough I can forget my rule just this once.” Lance flirts, planting her head in her hands and batting her eyelashes at her.

Allura purses her lips but says nothing.

“Castle-ship diagnostics complete, Princess.” The same voice they’d heard in the main hall speaks, voice coming from nowhere once more.

“Display diagnostics, CORINN,” Allura responds and in front of her new holograms pop up displaying information in a language Lance can’t read. Coran rises from the floor to look over her shoulder and after a moment, the pair’s expressions fall. Coran looking worried and Allura like she’s sucking on a lemon.

“Bad news?” Shiro asks tentatively.

“Very. I had expected the Castle to fall into disrepair but this…” Coran lets out a large gust of air, and it looks like he goes almost boneless. Maybe he did. Aliens, ya know? “this is much more than I had anticipated.” He rubs his forehead, sounding tired. Allura places a gentle hand on his arm and then he’s grinning again, if a bit woodenly.

Lance understands pretending to be happy when all you really want to do is cry and so doesn’t call him out on it.

Allura straightens up, which, in Lance’s opinion was wholly unnecessary considering she’s like, seven feet tall and they’re all sitting on the floor. “We should focus on finding the other Lions for the time being. Come, I’ll need to be at the main hub for this.”

She begins walking out a different door than they had entered from, Coran and the humans following close behind.

Pidge, ever curious, starts asking questions again before they’re even out the door.

“What exactly  _ are  _ the Lions? And Voltron, for that matter.”

Allura hums at the question, but Coran beats her to the answer.

“An excellent question, smallish one! Thousands of years ago, long before the war started, the lions were created by Altean Alchemists along with the illustrious Olkari Scientists. The Lions were only supposed to be a new form of battlecruisers, fashioned in the image of the Goddess’ Warrior Lions. But along the way, the Lions became  _ more _ .”

He starts waving his arms about, voice picking up a storyteller’s quality. It captures Lance’s attention wholly, having always been a sucker for a good story.

“We still aren’t completely sure why or how, but the Lions gained sentience and began exhibiting powers unseen and unplanned for. The Lions became more than just machines, they were  _ alive.  _ Those who worked closely with the Lions began describing psychic links attached to them. That they began calling out to them.”

Lance thinks about Blue, calling her from across the desert, how she can still feel her in the back of her mind, the barest hint of amusement as Coran tells them about the Lions’ creation. She thinks about how real she feels, how Lance never even questioned the Lion speaking to her.

She wonders if the others can hear their lions, or if they’re too far away.

Allura picks up the story. “When we tried running pilot tests, only those chosen by the Lions were able to get the great beasts to respond, regardless of experience or status. Mystical bonds formed between Paladin and Lion, stronger than that of  _ anything  _ seen before.” Allura’s voice took on a wistful note as she thought back. “The Lions need their Pilots as much as the Pilot needs their Lion, once the bond solidifies, there is nothing that can replace it.”

The group enters what Lance assumes to be the Bridge. It’s a wide-open space with a slightly raised platform in the middle and control panel placed in front of it. Allura steps on the dais and two tower like things with orbs placed on top raise up before her, stopping a little above her hips. She gently rests her hands on them while Coran walks around her to stand at the control station.

Pidge follows along after the princess curiously.  _ “How _ do they choose their Paladins though?”

“Your quintessence must be compatible with your Lion. Your life force must match their own. Not necessarily identical, but it is said the more alike the quintessence is, the stronger the bond.”

Holograms burst into life in front of the Princess. Miniaturized versions of the Lions that spring to life on their own, racing around the room and seeming to play with each other before falling back to stand in front of Allura.

Lance notices the Lions are varying sizes. The Green Lion, who was the smallest, was about the size of her hand and while the Black Lion was roughly the size of an actual cat.

“The quintessence of an individual, influences their personality greatly. It is why Paladins of the same Lion share so many traits,” Allura smiles at them all. “In fact, I can already see the traits of the Paladins of Old mirrored in you five.”

Keith steps forward abruptly, hands uncrossed and raised in front of him. “Wait, hold up,” he questions, tone sharp. “What do you mean, ‘mirrored in you’? I just got dragged along for the ride. I haven’t been chosen for anything.”

Allura looks at him as if he’s being exceedingly dim; which,  _ relatable _ . Keith puffs up so much at the look she gives him that Lance half expects him to start hissing.

“Blue  _ did _ call Hunk, ‘Yellow’s kit’ back on Earth.” She tilts her head to the side. “And said ‘Red’s cub should show some  _ respect _ .’” Lance adds pointedly, earning a glare from Keith.

“You’ve spoken to the Blue Lion?” Coran asks, an excited pitch to his voice as he leans in close to her face. “Directly?”

Lance leans back a bit so their noses aren’t touching but doesn’t move from where she’s stood. “Well, like I told Pidge, it’s not really  _ words _ per say… But I suppose. Was I not supposed to? I mean, she talked to me first and you said it was normal, right?”

Allura blinks at her for a moment. “I mean, yes. A Paladin communicates with their Lion, but the bond isn’t normally this strong so early…” Allura then furrows her brows and says something is that musical language of hers before snapping out of her reverie. Lance wants to ask more about it, but she can tell Allura’s moved on from the topic and she gets the feeling that she won’t say any more about it, not at the moment at least.

“But, back to the topic at hand. You were not  _ dragged  _ here,” she says with a pointed look at Keith. “You were  _ destined _ to be here. The Goddess decided you five were to pilot the Lions. It is not  _ chance _ that there were five of you in the Blue Lion. It is not a  _ coincidence _ that you all embody one of the five Lions so perfectly. The Goddess weaves her web of destiny, her tapestry of fate, and she has dictated that your threads were always bound to cross and bring you here.”

“Okay, hold up,” Pidge interjects, waving his hands empathetically. “Goddess? Tapestry? My life isn’t  _ predestined. _ ” His face screws up in distaste, appalled at the very thought.

Allura just shrugs, but her face has that somewhat pinched quality that Lance is starting to learn means that she’s not happy with something. When she speaks, her voice is measured. “Your beliefs are your own. But regardless, you five were  _ meant _ to be here. You five are connected, I can see it already when I look at you. Your quintessence not only matches your Lions’ but is also compatible with each other.” Allura places her pointer finger on her cheek, tilting her head delicately. “If I was so romantic, I might even say you five were made for each other.”

“What? Like some sort of weird, polyamorous soulmate thing?” Lance blanches.

Hunk elbows her in the side, not hard, but with enough pressure to cause her to yelp. Immediately she starts whining, falling dramatically into his side. “Aww, don’t be like that, honeybee! You know I love you, with like, my  _ whole  _ heart,” she pats her chest for emphasis. “but just the thought of  _ that  _ with  _ you  _ makes me want to throw myself into traffic. No offense. Also, Pidge is, like, nine.” Pidge squawks with indignation and Lance wrinkles her nose a bit as she looks up at Hunk--ignoring Pidge completely--and gives him her puppy eyes. “Don’t be mad, Boo Bear. You’ll always be number one where it matters.”

Hunk’s blushing red enough to put a fire truck to shame, but huffs good-naturedly anyway and gently shoves her off of him. “You are a handful and I don’t know why we’re friends.”

“It must be my sparkling personality!” Lance sing songs at him, grinning wide and playful. “You just can’t resist.”

“If by ‘sparkling’, you mean annoying and self-centered… Yeah. Hit the nail right on the head.” Keith quips and Lance’s mood instantly plummets.

Whipping around with a sneer on her lips, she snarls at him, “Nobody asked you,  _ drop out.” _

He looks almost surprised at the force of her anger, like he hadn’t expected insulting her would get such a reaction. But then what  _ had  _ he expected? Her to lie down and take it? The thought made her anger  _ boil _ .

He’s taken aback for only a second before he opens his mouth to retaliate no doubt. Shiro steps in between them before he can though, giving Keith a disappointed look.

Keith grits his teeth and Lance sticks her tongue out at him behind Shiro’s back, just to be bratty.

Keith actually  _ growls at her. _

It sounds like victory.

Shiro turns back to her only to find the picture of innocence, hands clasped behind her back and looking up at the taller man with a sheepish grin. A look practiced from many years as the youngest.

Shiro shakes his head, not truly believing the ruse but deciding it wasn’t worth his time and returns his attention to Allura. “You were saying, Princess?”

Allura blinks at them, seemingly confused at the entire exchange. “Yes, as I was saying, the Lions choose their Pilots long before the bond solidifies. I can tell you four will be chosen because the Royal Family was connected to the Lions’ as a safety precaution. Your life force glows around you much like the Paladins of Old, it’s a unique trait I have yet to see mirrored anywhere else.”

“Okay,” Pidge asks, “Operating under the impression that we were ‘chosen,’ what are our Lions? And what does it mean for us if we’re the ones piloting them?”

Allura looks over at Pidge in thought before directing the Green Lion to move.

The Lion’s hologram jumps at the opportunity, bounding over to Pidge much like a kitten. It nuzzles his nose with its own, causing the boy to giggle in surprise as the hologram winds itself around him. Green is much the same as Blue, but with a shorter snout and a sword-like tail, where Blue has a trident. The transparent blade like things that extend along Blue’s lower back, follow Green’s all the way up to her neck and while they glow brighter they’re slightly smaller and more diamond shaped.

“The Green Lion is full of energy and curiosity. She wishes for a pilot that mirrors her wonder in the world and joins in on her adventures with enthusiasm. A pilot who values knowledge, no matter what form it comes in. Her Paladin must be adventurous but with a good head on their shoulders so that they may be able to become the brains behind Voltron.”

Lance can already see the similarities between the two and knows with a bone-deep certainty, she’s going to have to make sure those two don’t come up with some hair-brained scheme and get themselves killed. Pidge may be a genius, but that hardly matters when he’s being stupid.

Blue runs up to Lance as if she’d been gnawing at the bit to come closer to her, waiting for Allura’s signal. The hologram slams into Lance’s chest, and she’s surprised to notice that she can feel it trying to burrow into her. The Lion claws its way up her chest and drapes herself around Lance’s shoulders like an expensive scarf, her sharp tail flicking back and forth.

“The Blue Lion-”

“Wait! Let me guess,” Lance says, snapping her fingers and smirking at the Princess, “She’ll only accept the best pilot with the most charming personality?”

Allura’s expression is flat but continues professionally with what she was saying, acting as if Lance hadn’t interrupted.

“The Blue Lion favors the empathetic and the loyal. The pilot that would do anything to save others, to adapt and change to fit the needs of a situation. The most flexible of us all, in skills and personality. The pair are said to be the friendliest of the Voltron Five.”

Lance’s hand that had been absentmindedly scratching Blue’s hologram abruptly stills, suddenly embarrassed. She buries her face in the Blue hologram, whispering so only it can hear. “I hope I can live up to your expectations.”

Blue purrs in the back of her mind like a promise.

The Yellow Lion runs up to Hunk, tripping over its big paws and ramming into his stomach clumsily. His laugh is only a touch more hysterical than usual when he reaches out a hand to touch the hologram.

Yellow is the second biggest Lion, almost exactly like Blue but with a heavier build and an axe tail. Her back spikes are thicker and squarer than Blue’s and Lance can’t help comparing her friend’s Lion to a tank in video games. Made to take damage and dole out heavy blows.

“The Paladin of the Yellow Lion embodies a kind and caring nature. The heart of the Paladin must be mighty in order to hold up that of their team even in times of great turmoil. They are the support system, steady and ridged as they protect those weaker than them. They place the needs of others before their own because they know no other way.”

Lance bumps her shoulder with Hunk, grinning up at him when he glances down at her, doubt clouding his eyes. Her smile turns soft in a way she only allows for Hunk and she sees him relax, if only a little bit.

He embodies his Lion perfectly, she thinks.

Unlike the others, the Red Lion doesn’t move towards Keith at all when Allura begins speaking, it just continues pacing in front of him, almost as if stalking him. It’s built like a cross between the Green and Blue Lions. Small and with a short snout and build, but lithe and fluid as well.

“The Red Lion is the most temperamental of the Lions and it is mirrored in that of her paladin. They are the most emotional of all of them and rely more on instinct than hard earned skill. The Lion is faster and more agile than the others but also more unstable, it takes a Paladin as adaptable and loyal as her to gain her trust. It is hard earned but once you have it, it is not easily broken.”

Slowly, Keith uncrosses his arms and reaches out the Lion hologram in front of him. She skitters away from him and Keith gets this look on his face that Lance can’t decipher. A moment later, the hologram presses her snout against his outstretched palm, nuzzling it. She holds it there for a second more before snorting and moving off to pace again. Keith stares after her with that same indecipherable look, hand still raised.

Finally, the Black Lion hologram pads over to Shiro, head held high in pride.

She has red, metal wings that rest at her side regally. She looks almost exactly like Blue but bigger and black, with more colorful accents scattered across her face and shoulders. Her tail is more of a whip, lacking the bladed end the other Lions have but Lance doubts it’s any less deadly.

“The Black Lion is the leader, the head of Voltron. As the leader, she cannot choose her Paladin the same way as the others can. She must keep the thoughts of the team in mind, must choose someone the other Paladin’s will follow. Who will lead the team well. She is the last to choose, a sacrifice she gladly makes for the safety of the team. As thus, she requires a Paladin that understands that. Someone who values the thoughts of the team because without them they wouldn’t be the leader.”

Black stops before Shiro and tilts her head in acknowledgment, Shiro returns the gesture and Lance gets the feeling Black is smiling at him. Gracefully--Lance thinks she might be more graceful than Blue--Black steps forward and nudging his head with her own before walking back into the middle of the room.

Shiro stares after her in awe and admiration.

The other Lions follow her back and sit in a neat row back in front of Allura.

Blue nuzzles Lance’s cheek once more before joining her sisters, and she sees Yellow lightly nip Hunk’s finger before bounding after her. When they’re all settled down, they begin to glow brightly and in between one blink and the next, the five Lions are replaced by the giant Warrior from her vision.

“Together, the five Lions form Voltron, but only if they have all five Paladins who embody their traits. You five, are destined to join together as Voltron and free the universe from Galra control,” Allura finishes dramatically a bright smile on her face and an expectant look in her eyes.

“What?!” Hunk and Keith shout at the same time, the latter more outraged than confused.

Keith steps forward, hands curled into fists at his sides and a snarl on his face. “I didn’t sign up to fight in someone else’s  _ war.” _

Allura’s expression falls once more. “What do you think Voltron was created for?” she snaps at him.

Shiro steps forward placing a hand on Keith’s shoulder, something passes between the two and Keith backs down with a huff, arms crossed in anger. “Princess, you’re asking us to fight a war that isn’t even ours.” Shiro looks stressed as he speaks, his voice strained.

Allura’s face turns thunderous. “It  _ is _ your war. It became your war when Lance bonded with the Blue Lion. It became your war when you all followed her here of your own free will. It became your war before you were even born, when the Goddess chose  _ you _ to pilot the Lions.”

“Princess, on our planet they aren’t even fully matured yet. They’re  _ children _ . You can’t ask them to join a  _ war _ .”

“Do you think there are no children on the countless planets Zarkon has already captured? That they do not suffer?” Allura glares at Shiro, hands curled into fists at her sides as she looms over him. “What of your planet? You say there was a galra warship in your solar system. You were seconds away from being enslaved, or worse,  _ destroyed _ . Does that mean nothing to you?”

“Of course, it means something! The galra are ruthless dictators and deserve to be taken down a peg, but I will not drag  _ them- _ ” Shiro gestures to the four teenagers in the room. “-into this.”

“It is not their  _ choice _ .” Allura hisses through her teeth. “To become a Paladin is to be a Paladin for life. It is a great honor, the greatest in the universe. Voltron is the Defender of Worlds, it is called upon in times of turmoil and it has been gone for thousands of years. What do you think the universe thinks of that? How much has been lost and how much will we still lose if you do not stand and  _ fight?” _

Lance watches the two go back and forth like a tennis match, brow furrowed in concern and worry as the pair get more agitated as the argument goes on. She can feel Blue in the back of her mind, oddly silent throughout the exchange. She reaches out to her Lion, a question rippling along the link.

_ ‘Is it true? Do we have to fight?’ _

It takes a long moment for Blue to respond and when she does her voice is heavy and pauses often, thinking about her words carefully. She sounds her age when she speaks now. Lance doesn’t know how to feel about that.

_ “You are my Paladin for as long as you live. I cannot choose another until you are gone. The same goes for the others. They are not yet as firmly bound as we are, but they were chosen. There can be no others.” _

Lance gets the feeling Blue is sighing in her head, a giant gust of air puffed out even though the Lion can’t breathe.  _ “But us Lions are bound to you as much as you are to us. If you choose not to fight, we will follow you. But we are weapons made to be used and you are warriors born to protect. We choose our Paladins well. _

_ “Look inside yourself and ask if you can walk away from this now that you know what’s at stake.” _

Lance rubs at her chest again, at the warmth nestled next to her heart, and knows even before Blue finishes speaking that she can’t leave.

For as long as she can remember she’s stuck up for the little guy. Thrown herself into situations to save another person because her empathy and morality pushed her too, because she can’t stand seeing people hurt. And now that want has turned into a need, not unlike the need to breathe air, like the need to survive.

She’s always been empathetic--sometimes scarily so--and Lance knows that walking away from this would break her more than she could repair. The guilt would eat her away until there was nothing left but an empty shell.

She feels the pull to fight, to save, to protect, so much stronger than it had ever been before she’d met Blue. And maybe this means that it had always come from Blue. Or that the Lion is enhancing it to control her. Maybe she should be angry.

But she isn’t.

Because regardless of where this need to protect came from, she can’t ignore it. She doesn’t think herself a warrior, but she’ll damn well protect everyone she can.

She became a pilot because she wanted to explore the stars, sure, but the Garrison wasn’t just an exploration program. It was a military one too. She became a pilot to protect. To fight for what she believed in. To make her family proud.

Now she could do that on a bigger scale than she had ever dreamed of.

Her chest seizes at the thought of fighting in this war, of never seeing her family again but she knows there was no other choice. Not for her anyway.

Mind made up and heart aching, Lance steps forward and silences both Allura and Shiro.

The room’s eyes are on her again and she stands up straighter. Hands at her side and shoulders squared, Lance raises her chin stubbornly. “I’ll join you. Blue and I will fight to take down the Galra.”

She can feel their curiosity change to surprise, obviously not expecting the declaration. Not expecting that from  _ her _ of all people.

She gives the group a charming smile because she has expectations to keep. Because she doesn’t like the way they’re looking at her in surprise and sorrow and pride. Because she doesn’t trust them yet with this side of herself.

“Besides, being a hero known by the whole universe? Doesn’t sound half bad,” she jokes as if she doesn’t know what she’s walking into. As if she’s just in it for the glory.

Lance can’t look at Hunk, she knows what she’ll see there. Probably hurt or worry or something else equally horrible. It makes her gut twist to know that she’s probably tearing her best friend in the universe apart from the inside out, but she  _ can’t _ walk away. She knows that.

She knows  _ he  _ knows that.

It doesn’t make it easier.

But then Hunk steps up next to her, a gentle hand on her arm and she looks up despite her better judgment. Because she can’t say no to him just as much as he can’t say no to her.

He looks stressed and worried and five different kinds of panicked. Lance swallows.

“Are you sure?” he asks, voice low and shaky.

Lance gives him a wane smile, “Yeah, buddy. I’m sure.”

Hunk’s brows furrow and Lance grabs his hand. She tightens her grip to make sure he’s listening, make sure he understands. She forces herself to say the words even as she knows how much it’ll hurt if she’s left here alone. Even if she knows how terrifying it’d be out here without her rock, her other half, her  _ brother _ .

“It’s okay if you’re not though,” she tells him. Her blue eyes boring into his honey-brown ones.  _ “No tienes que hacer esto. _ You don’t have to follow me in this.”

He studies her for a moment, and it reminds her of how he looks at puzzles. How he takes apart all the pieces in his mind and puts them back together before he even moves. His eyes bore into her and she’s never been able to hide anything from him and she doesn’t think she’ll ever want to, but he  _ needs  _ to know he’s not forced to do this.

This  _ isn’t  _ his responsibility.

Lance almost opens her mouth to say it again when Hunk finally speaks.

“If you think I’m going to leave you in space alone, you are _loco_. You’re bad enough on _Earth_ ,” Lance hiccups a laugh at that. An old joke between them. He leans closer to her so no one else can hear. “You’re my _best friend,_ okay? I’m with you until the end.”

Lance blinks, remembering him saying the exact same words when they both applied to the Garrison and she gets the sudden urge to cry because what did she ever do to deserve such a wonderful person as her best friend?

She can see the fear in his eyes, the worry on his face and still he follows her because he trusts her judgment. Trusts  _ her _ .

“Okay,” Lance whispers to keep her voice from breaking. “Okay.”

Hunk pulls her into a hug, his huge form engulfing her and hiding her from the others in the room. It makes her feel safe and less like she’ll fall apart from shaking so hard. She doesn’t cry, because her make up, but it’s close.

Later, she’ll be embarrassed and angry that she did all of that in front of everyone else. But for now, she’s content to let Hunk just hold her.

She feels the rumble of his voice more than it when he tells Allura that he’ll fight beside her with the Yellow Lion.

Pidge steps forward next but doesn’t elaborate on why. Nobody asks, but the look on his face is determined. Lance wonders what it is he lost to make him so angry.

Lance composes herself enough to turn away from Hunk, but he still keeps his arms wrapped around her shoulders and Lance leans back into his chest, hands wrapped around his wrists.

The trio looks to the last two potential Paladins, waiting for their choice. Shiro looks like he’s struggling with something, but Keith touches his arm and nods. Shiro looks like he wants to scream and smile at the same time. It’s an odd expression but Lance kinda understands.

Shiro and Keith were close, even back at the Garrison. She assumes whatever is going through his head about Keith is mirrored in her own about Hunk. The worry that the other will be in danger but also the guilt and relief that they won’t be alone out here.

Because Lance never doubted for a second Shiro would stay and fight. She doesn’t know him very well, but she knows enough to figure out he’s too honor-bound to leave and out of all of them? He has the highest stakes in this war. He’s seen the atrocities first hand when he was imprisoned and Lance bets that he wants to get back at them for that.

Not revenge, because he’s too goody-goody for that. But something similar-- _ kinder _ .

Shiro closes his eyes in defeat and Keith speaks for them, “We’ll fight too. The universe needs at least one person who knows what they're doing.”

Keith doesn’t look at her, but she knows a jab when she sees one.

“Wonderful!” Coran exclaims from where he was at the console, clicking away, only half listening to the conversation happening behind him. But now he turns and gives the whole group his attention. “Fantastic, I’m glad you lot worked out your little tiff. I’ve gotten an approximate location of the Lions, but the castle is a bit worse for wear,” he pats the panel gently. “so, it’s not as accurate as I’d like. I can only get within a galaxy of the Green and Yellow Lions and I’m unable to locate the Red Lion at all. There must be something blocking the systems. Cloaking it somehow.”

Allura sighs in frustration. “I’m afraid that might be my fault as well. When father tied my life force to the Lions we were under attack. I had feared the connection would not hold like it should, and it appears my fears were founded.”

“Princess, do not blame yourself.” Coran scolds gently, pulling up the galaxies and displaying them on the hologram, replacing the mini Voltron. Next to two galaxies are a little pictogram of a Lion’s head.

“The Blue Lion and the Black Lion are in the same place,” Pidge informs from where he is standing by a mini Arus, the Blue and Black Lion pictograms hovering above the planet.

“Look at your primitive synapses firing away in your tiny brain cage!” Coran praises. Or, Lance thinks he tries to, at least. Pidge just scowls at him.

“The Lion is hidden away in the castle, unable to be accessed until the other pairs’ bonds are solidified. The leader is chosen by the team and as such, cannot pilot their Lion until there is a team  _ to lead,” _ Allura informs, looking at the Green Lion with concentration. “It is unfortunate that we cannot get a more accurate lock on the Lion’s whereabouts, but we will make do with what we have. Coran, keep working on finding the Red Lion and see if you can get a more accurate lock on Yellow.”

She then turns to the whole team, a wide smile on her face. “I’m sending you lot on your first mission. Locate the Green Lion and bring it back here. I’m sure it will be a great team building exercise!”

The five humans look at each other uncertainly. In Lance’s opinion, such varying personality types can only end in chaos but it’s not like they have much of a choice at this point.

She sighs and leans further against Hunk, already tired.

_ Here’s to teamwork. _

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'd like to credit [voltronuniversaldefender](https://voltronuniversaldefender.tumblr.com) on Tumblr as I love their [Lion](https://voltronuniversaldefender.tumblr.com/tagged/lion+page) designs and the Lions in this fic are based on them more than the show. I just prefer sleek things I guess. Their art is amazing and you should check them out!
> 
> Also, Francisca, Mace, and Sabre are based on [ShanaStoryteller](https://shanastoryteller.tumblr.com)'s headcanons of Lance's family. You can find her on Tumblr or here by the same name. Honestly check her out, she's my writing senpai.
> 
> TRANSLATIONS:  
> "Are you sure?" - Hunk, Spanish  
> "You don't have to do this." -Lance, Spanish


	3. Destiny Calls (and she wants an answer)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Pidge realizes she was wrong about something, another Lion is found and the first altercation with the Galra goes... well. It goes.

They were approaching hour three of flying aimlessly in space looking for the Green Lion and Lance was ready to _strangle_ Keith with her bare hands.

“I’m just _saying,_ if you pulled back like _this_ your turns would be smoother-”

“And _I’m_ just saying that if you don’t _back off,_ I’ll drop you into the abyss of space and leave you there,” Lance bites out between her teeth, nails digging into the handles.

Keith hasn’t stopped trying to backseat pilot since they all clamored back into a freshly cleaned Blue Lion. He’d pause for a few minutes whenever Shiro told him to knock it off, but then Lance would do something that irked him, and he’d be right back at it.

She wasn’t doing much more than flying in a straight line!

It was driving her more insane than the simulator.

Keith crosses his arms, squinting down at her, “I doubt that. You’re arrogant but you aren’t _heartless_.”

“I don’t think you know me well enough to say what I am and am not capable of doing.” Lance glares at him through her bangs.

“Keith, would you just knock it off?” Pidge snaps from where he’s curled under the control panel with his computer, tapping away at something. Lance isn’t really sure _what_ he’s doing considering he doesn’t have Wi-Fi but at this point, she knows better than to ask. “You’re being a helicopter parent.”

Hunk nods vigorously from where he’s sat crossed legged next to Lance’s chair between her and Pidge. He’d been bouncing back and forth between the two in conversations as he fiddles with the improved Geiger Counter Coran had helped build before Keith started his latest annoyance.

Lance shoots him a smug look that has Keith bristling. “I’m just trying to _help.”_

“No, you’re trying to _pilot_ ,” Lance corrects, tilting her head towards him disdainfully. “A skill, by the way, that I am perfectly capable of doing _myself.”_

“Forgive me for doubting that when you’ve apparently crashed _every simulator_ you’ve stepped foot in.”

“She’s not that bad,” Hunk defends, and Lance gently presses her shin further into his side as a thank you.

“Yeah, the simulators barely count anyway. They’re completely different from a real plane,” she waves her hand as if to wave away Keith’s opinion. If only it were that easy.

“Completely different-” Keith starts before scoffing, “Have you ever even _been_ in a real plane?”

“Of course, I have! I grew up flying them asshole!” Lance shouts and apparently swearing is Shiro’s breaking point because he stops rubbing his temples and physically gets in between the two of them.

“Both of you, knock it off!” Lance opens her mouth to protest but Shiro silences her with a glare. She turns away angrily. “Keith, come on. You and I are going to have a _talk.”_ The older pilot then all but drags the other off towards the small room in Blue’s chest.

The second the door closed behind them Lance shoved herself to her feet, letting Blue take autopilot to punch the back of her chair with a strangled yell.

Hunk and Pidge jumped at the sudden movement and her apparent anger while Blue chittered worriedly in her mind.

Lance ignored all three as she paced the small space in the cockpit. She walked back and forth agitatedly, feeling like a caged animal. “What is his _problem_? It’s not good enough he was better than me at the Garrison so now he has to shove it down my throat here? In my own damn Lion? _¡Qué mierda!”_

Lance would punch a wall if it wouldn’t have hurt Blue.

“I’m sure that’s not what he meant,” Hunk tries placating her and it might’ve worked had she not been getting every button she has, pressed since they left the castle.

“It doesn’t _matter_ if he meant it or not! What right does he have to tell me what to do? I’m the one with the Lion! I’m the only one fully bonded yet! And he acts like I’m beneath him and I’m sick of it! God,” Lance stops in the middle of the room, hugging herself, hands gripping tightly at the fake leather of her jacket. “It’d be better if he went back to not knowing who the hell I was.”

Pidge stares at her with unreadable eyes. “Why do you let him get to you so much?”

“I don’t!” Lance snaps. Pidge gives her a blank look and Lance tugs the ends of her hair. “Okay so maybe I do. A little. He just-” Lance waves her hands in a way that could mean anything before making a gesture not unlike strangling someone accompanied by a low growling sound.

Pidge shakes his head at her before returning to his computer. “Just ignore him. He’s not worth it.”

Hunk’s looking between the two of them, a thoughtful expression on his face that makes Lance curious as to what he’s thinking.

Lance lets out a breath, shoulders drooping. She walks over to Hunk and falls into his lap. He moves his counter out of the way just before she lands on it and tuts at her. “I can’t just ignore him. He’s so stupid I have to correct him, or it’ll bug me, ya know?” She looks at Pidge upside down, her head resting on Hunk’s thigh.

Pidge gives her a wry look. “Oh, I know the feeling.”

“Hey!” Lance whines, swatting at the small boy. “You’re supposed to be on my side!”

“Oh? Is that so?” he asks disinterested but Lance answers him anyway.

“Of course, you’re supposed to be on my side! I was your friend first.” Pidge pauses in his typing to look at her, something like surprise on his face. It’s gone a second later so Lance continues as if nothing happened. “And the like, third rule of the bro code is that senior bro-ship reigns supreme. You have to take a bro’s side over a hoe’s.”

Hunk peers down at her, a smile fighting its way onto his face. “Does that make Keith the hoe?”

 _“¿En serio?_ Of course, it does,” Lance says in a tone that conveys exactly how obvious it was. Which is very.

The smile Hunk was holding breaks out over his face and Pidge starts laughing, Lance joining in a second later. The three are still laughing when Shiro and Keith come back into the cockpit, though Lance has moved on to making fun of his mullet and fashion sense along with Pidge while Hunk makes puns.

Lance is red in the face and still sprawled across Hunks lap, but now Pidge is leaning against her shoulder in order to stay upright. Shiro looks at them in surprise that quickly shifts to happiness while Keith narrows his eyes. He’s doing the face Pidge had made fun of not two minutes ago and it sends the pair howling again.

She’s still smiling when she sits back in the pilot’s seat, leaning over her armrest to continue talking to Hunk and Pidge, with the occasional comment from Shiro. The rest of the trip is smoother after that. The air more relaxed.

It’s not much, but it’s the first bit of hope that Lance finds to prove they might be able to be an actual team.

***

When Katie had first met Lance and Hunk, she never expected to actually _like_ them.

Katie didn’t really interact with people much. Didn’t _like_ them. There were too many variables. People were too unpredictable, too _cruel_ , for her tastes.

And to be perfectly honest, when she first met Lance, she thought the other girl was conceited, vain and arrogant. Little more than a hotshot pilot who thought herself better than others. Katie had thought that Hunk was too nice for his own good. That the both of them were idiots just like most of the people that surrounded Katie and she hadn’t bothered looking closer.

To be fair, Katie was a prodigy. A _genius_ born into a family of them, everyone around her was an idiot to her. She built an engine by herself at age five, built her first circuit board at six and coded a fully functioning AI by seven. She thinks she can be forgiven for taking most people at face value.

Its technology that’s interesting anyway.

But as she sat in the Blue Lion, laughing along with the two of them, joking and fooling around as they flew through space, she was faced with the conclusion that she was very, very _wrong_ about them.

She’d gotten hints about it at the Garrison; when they were a ‘team.’ But it really started to click when Lance actually listened to her and went along with her schemes and theories on the roof. And then it was downright undeniable when her and Hunk had been the first to pledge themselves to this war, seemingly for no reason than to help and be together.

Even Katie had a more selfish reason than that.

It’s a strange feeling, being so wrong about something.

And then, when Lance had declared them friends as if it was just common knowledge, it had startled Katie. Made her feel warm in a way she hadn’t in a while. She didn’t have a lot of friends. She was too smart for the other kids. Too fast for them to keep up with.

Mostly she only had Matt growing up.

And now he’s missing…

Katie shoves the thought away violently. She’s going to find him. Both of them, it doesn’t matter how long it will take. She’s a genius, she’ll find a way.

She always does.

***

“Lance, wait!” Hunk interrupts as her as she’s telling a story about Sabre and Mace that is making Pidge do the funniest faces and Shiro looks on disapprovingly. His tone makes her pause, and she lightly pulls Blue to a stop.

“What is it, sugar pop?” Lance asks cheerfully, putting her feet back on the floor from where they had been tucked underneath her. Pidge rolls his eyes at her so Lance sticks her tongue out.

Hunk is staring down at the counter in his hand, “I think we’re getting close.” Pidge sits up straighter in response.

Lance nods at her friend and coaxes Blue into a slow turn, scanning the space around them for anywhere the Lion could be hiding. A little green planet fills the monitor and Lance stops.

Pidge leans over the console as if getting closer to the screen will help him see better. Lance looks at him in amusement. “Think you could pull a zoom and enhance on that one, Blue?” Lance asks as she flies towards the planet. A second later a screen pops up in front of Pidge’s face. The younger paladin eagerly scrolls through the screen but doesn't thank her, which Lance hadn’t really expected him to anyway.

“Thanks, Blue!” Lance calls cheerfully before a thought occurs to her and she’s wide-eyed. “Actually, you know what? I never even asked your name. Like, that is so rude of me, I can’t _believe_ myself.”

Lance waits patiently for her Lion to speak. Introductions are _way_ overdue and _god_ she feels horrible now.

 _“I have no name,”_ her Lion says confused, _“I am simply the Blue Lion.”_

The sentence pulls Lance up short.

“What do you _mean_ you don’t have a name?” she demands.

_“I have never been formally named. My paladins have given me many over the years, but I never kept them after they passed. For now, I remain Nameless.”_

Lance thinks that’s very sad and wonders how many names she’d been given then lost. She wonders how many _Paladins_ she’s chosen then lost.

_“You have given me many names so far. Will you choose one eventually?”_

“Hmm?” Lance hums in confusion. “Oh, those aren’t names. They’re nicknames! Fun names you give to your friends or people you like. We need to give you a real name.”

Lance taps her chin thoughtfully as they descend through the atmosphere.

Something that makes sense for her Lion.

Ariel? No, not regal enough.

Marina? No, too human.

Siren? Still wrong.

None of those are right.

“Hunk!” The teen in question jumps at being referred to so suddenly. “What do you think we should name, Blue?”

“We?” Hunk asks, expression confused.

“Duh, ‘we.’ We’ll be like her parents!” Lance tells him matter-of-factly. To his credit Hunk only looks mildly concerned at being appointed father of a cat-shaped warship.

Lance ignores her when Blue reminds her that she is thousands of years older than her. She’s still wrapping her head around that particular tidbit.

“What kind of name are you looking for?”

“Something that relates to water or blue.”

He tilts his head back to look at the ceiling. “Uh, what about… Cleo, like Cleopatra. Queen of the Nile?” Lance thinks about it but shakes her head. “Or, Sapphire, the gem. Cascade, Ophelia, Lana.” More headshakes. None of them sound right. “Um… Azura? That’s French I think.”

That one makes Lance pause.

“Azura,” she tries the name on her tongue.

She likes that one. It reminds her of Francisca. _Her Lion_ reminded her of Francisca actually.

“Yeah. Hey, what do you think about Azura?” She asks.

Lance gets the impression that Blue is tilting her head. _“It is one of the nicer names I have received. And it sounds regal. I like it.”_

Lance beams. “She loves it. Thanks, Hunk!”

“Oh, you’re welcome, I guess.”

***

The planet reminds Katie of pictures of the Amazon rainforest. Tall trees and giant flowers and everything covered in a thousand shades of _green._ Giant butterflies fly around them, and she can hear the sound of animals scurrying in the undergrowth.

It’s pretty, in a natural sort of way, she supposes.

“So, Pidgeon,” Lance says when they exit the newly dubbed Azura, hands on the curve of her hips as she soaks up the sun. “Which way to your Lion?

Katie looks up at the Cuban to her right, nose scrunched up in displeasure. The taller is standing right in front of the sun, forcing her to squint. “How am I supposed to know? Hunk has the Giger Counter.”

Lance tilts her head to the side, chestnut hair gleaming in the midday light as it lights up behind her like a halo. Her brows furrow in confusion. “Can’t you feel her? Azura says we should be close enough.”

“Excuse me?” The younger girl responds flatly.

The taller heaves a full body sigh and mumbles something in Spanish Katie doesn’t really catch. “You should feel a pull. Mine was right here,” Lance taps right over her heart. “Azura says yours will probably somewhere else because of symbolism or something. But it feels like something tugging you somewhere or calling out to you.”

Katie looks up at her, expression flat. “That is so vague. What the hell am I supposed to do with that?”

 _‘Feel a pull’?_ What the hell is that? Give her something concrete to work with, Lance.

Lance looks down at her disapprovingly, lips pursed like her Mom does sometimes. “Can you try?”

Katie full body sighs and closes her eyes pointedly, trying to find the sensation that Lance had described. She stands there for a moment and is about to open her eyes and tell Lance she’s insane when a tugging at the base of her skull catches her attention.

Her hand flies up to the spot, thinking maybe Lance had tugged at her hair there to tease her, but the only thing under her hand is her skull. Her eyes snap open in surprise and still, the tugging sensation continues, more insistent now.

As if it knows she noticed it.

She looks up at Lance who is wearing a smug expression.

“Shut up.” Katie snaps, petulantly as she stalks off in a direction she knows will lead to her Lion, but not sure how she knows. It drives her crazy.

“I didn’t even _say_ anything, Pidgeon!” Lance calls, voice too light to be truly offended. She can hear Hunk chuckling, probably at Lance.

***

The team finds itself cramped together in a canoe, merrily floating down a stream, an alien sloth creature slowly paddling them closer towards the Green Lion.

Katie is squished between Hunk and Lance, the latter who is leaning over the boat so far that Hunk has to wrap his arm around Katie and hang onto the back of her shirt, so she doesn’t fall in. She’s splashing and playing in the water, occasionally flicking it at Keith’s back and then pretending to be innocent when he whips around to glare at her.

Katie started chewing on her nails five minutes ago and pulled her knees up to her chest in the last two. She feels nervous and jittery, so she’s been reciting the table of elements in order to calm down. She must’ve started muttering out loud at some point because Shiro turns around to look at her in concern.

“Are you okay?” he asks. Lance stops splashing in the water to look at her and then everyone’s eyes are on her. It makes her feel small and she _hates_ it.

Katie curls further towards her knees.

“I just-” Katie takes a deep breath before spilling everything she’s worrying about. Well, not everything, but the safe stuff to tell at least. “I know Allura said this was supposed to be my Lion but what if she’s wrong? I mean, she probably isn’t wrong, but what if I’m not actually meant to be the Green Paladin? What if I find her and she doesn’t like me? What if she realizes I’m not what she wanted? Like, I’m not even a pilot! I’m a _scientist,_ a scholar. I’m not supposed to be in the field! And how am I supposed to fly her? The Blue Lion doesn’t even have pedals so Green probably doesn’t either! And-”

“Pidge!” Surprisingly it’s who Keith cuts through her rambling. His eyebrows are drawn together in worry, and his mouth was pulled down at the corners. “You need to breathe.”

Lance places a hand on her back, rubbing in soothing circles. “You’re rambling,” she points out the obvious.

Katie shrugs noncommittedly and the team lulls into silence, unsure how to comfort her.

“You know,” Shiro begins, not quite looking at Katie but past her, as if seeing at someone else in her place. “My Commander for the Kerberos Mission was a wise man. He would always tell me, _'If you get too worried about what could go wrong, you might miss a chance to do something great.'_ ”

Katie looks up at him, eyes wide. He’s talking about her _father._ God, she misses him.

Does Shiro know who she is? Does he know why she’s here?

The canoe stops, beaching itself on the sand and Katie’s gaze is pulled towards the Temple standing before her. It’s huge and reminds her of the old Inca ruins, only this one is covered in giant vines, breaking the stone steps and overtaking the structure completely.

She looks back at the four people around her nervously, but each one looks back at her encouragingly. Or, she thinks Keith is trying to be encouraging. It’s hard to read him, but he’s giving off a supportive vibe. Probably.

“Go be great.” Shiro encourages, a smile lighting up his face.

“Yeah, knock ‘em dead, Pidgeon,” Lance adds in, knocking their shoulders together lightly.

“You’ll be fine,” Hunk assures.

Keith doesn’t say anything, but he does tilt his head towards the temple in silent encouragement. It’s enough.

Katie feels a small smile spread across her face and stands. “Okay. Yeah.” With one last glance at them, she runs towards the temple’s top, following the pull at the base of her skull. Following the pull of her destiny, of what led her here.

She’s going to be _great._

***

Lance watches with bated breath as Pidge climbs the temple steps, jumping over vines nimbly and ducking under others. When he reaches the top Lance feels her breath stop, Pidge stands there, turning in circles as if waiting for something.

Then he looks down and the temple erupts into a brilliant green glow.

Lance feels Azura’s anticipation like her own. The excitement so thick it’s almost tangible.

She watches as Pidge jumps down between a few vines, disappearing from sight and giving her and the others a heart attack. Shiro is ready to storm up the steps when Lance grabs his arm. The galra one, she realizes distantly.

A tentative feeling at the edge of her senses catches her attention. It reminds her of the feeling of a word on the tip of your tongue, of a memory tickling at the back of her mind.

Her face is scrunched up in thought as she tries to figure out what it is but then it suddenly bursts outwards in her mind.

She’s stunned by the force of it, bright and green and overflowing with so much curiosity and hunger and something uniquely _Pidge_ it knocks the breath out of her _._ It ties itself to her, anchors itself right in her chest next to Azura and pulls taught like a wire. It hums, vibrating so quickly Lance is almost scared it will snap just after it formed.

It’s filled with so much energy and excitement and joy that Lance can’t help the laugh bubbling up her throat. She knows, deep in her bones, that the action was mirrored by Pidge, where the girl had found her Lion.

And isn’t that a twist, Lance thinks, that Pidge has been a girl the whole time.

“Pidge is fine,” Lance tells them when the trio looks at her worriedly, probably concerned at how she’d laughed for no reason. It doesn’t concern Lance, they’ll learn soon enough how it feels to be connected like this. It’s exhilarating.

The four of them watch as the Green Lion explodes from the temple, and twirls in the air as if playing. Lance swears she can hear Pidge’s laughter echoing in her ears.

The pair don’t stop smiling until they get to the castle.

***

“Excellent!” Allura exclaims, sweeping in through the hangar doors, her long silver dress trailing behind her like starlight. “You found her! We are that much closer to forming Voltron.” She folds her hands in front of her, smiling wide. “I’m very proud of you all.”

Lance beams at her, Pidge tucked under her arm.

“Have you had any luck with the castle or the other Lions?” Shiro asks, ever the realist and bring the room down just a bit. Not that Lance blames him, it’s necessary if annoyingly sobering.

“Coran and I have narrowed down the planet the Yellow Lion is located on,” Allura confirms but her expression changes into something frustrated and angry and Lance’s expression falls with it. “Unfortunately, the planet is a Galra mining colony. Despite my hope to assemble Voltron as quickly as possible, Coran believes it would be unwise to send you five to the planet’s surface without prior experience in battling in the Lions. We’ll be conducting a training regimen for you as soon as Coran gets more of the Castles secondary systems working again.”

Allura brightens at the last statement and a pit of dread fills her stomach.

“Why do I get the feeling we aren’t going to like training at all?” Lance asks Pidge quietly.

“Probably because we both understand that Allura is probably insane,” she responds flatly.

Lance hums in response and opens her mouth to ask Allura something when the lights start flashing red and alarms blare. It startles Lance and she grips Pidge’s shoulder’s a hair too tight, the younger girl swatting at her in protest even as she burrows further into her side.

“What is that?” Hunk asks over the din.

Allura looks up sharply, “CORINN, what’s happening?”

“Castle sensors indicate a Galra warship nearing the perimeter, Princess. Set to enter the atmosphere in twenty dobashes,” CORINN responds, voice slightly concerned.

“What the hell is a dobash?” Lance hears Pidge mutter next to her and if Lance wasn’t terrified, she’d laugh.

“How did they find us?” Allura asks in her shock.

“I bet it’s Keith’s fault,” Lance blurts into the thickening silence because what else would she say.

The Paladin in question shoots her a glare. “Say whatever you need to make yourself feel better,” he snaps back.

“Okay! Let’s not panic alright?”

Hunk, who was bouncing from foot to foot stills and stares at Shiro incredulously. “ _Not_ panic? There’s a warship heading for us and we have three lions!”

“Two working Lions, actually.” Pidge points out, stepping forward.

Hunk pushes her back into Lance by the face much to the Green Paladins annoyance. “Yes, _thank you,_ Pidge,” he tells her, voice tight. “Two _working_ Lions and a ten-thousand-year-old castle. I think, right now is a _perfect_ time to panic, don’t you Lance?”

Lance looks at him with something akin to pity and she grabs his shaking hand. She keeps her voice purposefully light when she talks, “Sweetheart, you need to calm down.”

“Lance,” he asks, voice slightly strangled. “Why aren’t you more concerned by this? This is _bad.”_ he lowers his voice. “We should go. Now, while we still can.”

“You know I can’t do that, buddy.”

“I was afraid you’d say that.” Hunk’s shoulders slump, other hand coming to grasp her hands in his own.

She turns her head to focus on the others in the room. “Is it possible to book it through a Wormhole? We could just evade them until we’re ready,” she suggests.

“We might never _be_ ready,” Keith argues. “We have to fight now.”

“Says the guy without a Lion,” Lance snarks. “You have nothing to lose.”

“We can’t just leave Arus. They’re people here! Staying is our only option.”

“Here’s an option, _¡cállate la pinche boca!”_

“How the hell am I supposed to know what that means?”

“Context clues, _pendejo.”_

“Maybe if we run, maybe the Galra will leave the planet alone, like with Earth?” Hunk interjects. He’s resumed his foot hopping much to the annoyance of Pidge. “I mean, we’re what they want right?”

Keith glares at Hunk, voice harsh and seething. “Or they could destroy the planet anyway. We can’t just run away like cowards.”

Quick as a flash, Lance is standing between the two of them, face screwed up in a snarl. “You _don’t_ get to talk to him like that.”

“Yeah? Or what?” he taunts, not backing down.

Lance lunges for him, arms outstretched when Pidge grabs her shoulder and Hunk wraps an arm around her waist, stopping her movement. Shiro steps up between them as well, fast enough that he probably would’ve gotten between them before Lance reached Keith anyway.

He looks disappointed and it does nothing to soothe her anger. She just continues to glare over his shoulder at Keith, who returns the look tenfold.

“Princess?” He asks Allura, voice kind. Lance finally turns to look at her and realizes how stricken she looks. As if one wrong move will send her crumbling to the ground. “You know the Lions and Galra better than us. What do you suggest?”

Allura seems conflicted, her eyes darting back and forth. She wrings her hands and deliberates as everyone looks to her for judgment. Eventually, she comes to a conclusion, nodding to herself. “We are here for a reason, in this I must believe. The Goddess wants us to fight to free the universe as so we will. We are the universe’s only hope and we will not let them down again.”

“We’re with you,” Shiro confirms and it has Allura standing taller.

***

Allura leads them into a brightly lit, hexagonal room with high ceilings. Display cases are embedded into the walls, but the lights are dim enough that she can’t see inside. Weapons of varying styles and makes line the walls. Lance recognizes a few shapes and designs, but most are foreign to her which makes sense, because, you know. Aliens.

She notices a display of different arrow types and her fingers itch to try an archery range again. She hasn’t been shooting since the school year started again and she misses her Papi’s firing range.

She misses her Papi in general.

“This is the armoury,” Allura announces, and with a wave of her hand, the displays light up revealing different types of armour. Ceremonial, stealth, some made for cold climates others bulky and made for beatings.

The Paladins ‘ooh’ and ‘ah’ at the weapons and armour. Keith takes a particular interest in the far wall which contains an assortment of blades and Pidge is flying around the room mumbling about similarities to Earth battle weapons.

What really caught Lance’s attention though, is that one of the armour displays were empty.

Allura walks straight towards the blank display, ignoring the rest of the equipment in the room, and places her hand on the wall next to it. It lights up where she touches, a previously invisible scanner panel. Pidge zeros in on it with the single-minded train of thought of a scientist who needs to know how it works _now._

With a soft swish, the display opens, and the black backing of the display splits open to reveal a new room hidden behind.

“This is so cool!” Lance whispers excitedly, practically prancing inside after Allura.

The hidden room is smaller than the armoury and less lavish, more simply designed and with less on the walls. It’s dimmer too, the only light being the small futuristic chandelier above them.

Allura walks over to the far-right wall and beckons Lance over. Curious she follows.

“Place your hand here,” she instructs, and Lance does as asked. The wall lights up a soft blue beneath her hand and a pod-like shape emerges from the lightened wall. Lance scrambles back in surprise only to stop and gaze at it is awe when the pod lights up and the glass slides open.

Inside is a sleek suit of armour, done in soft grays and almost blacks and a blue that matches Azura _exactly_. It didn’t look like it could take many hits, more for stealth or evasive fighting styles but it was breathtaking.

The under armour was the sleek almost black and looked like it would basically be a skin-tight bodysuit. Lance leaned in closer and saw it looked padded in certain places like the stomach, hips, inside joints and neck, all of which lacked the gray metal armouring adorning most of the rest of the body, probably meant to retain maneuverability.

The chest, arms, and legs were more heavily guarded with the soft grey metal armour. The shoulders knees and other accented places throughout the armour carried the trademarked blue. The whole suit seemed to almost be made of an interlocking pattern, similar to scales almost, but smoother, so the wearer could have more free movement with the same level of defense.

The armour was beautiful, and far from anything the Garrison ever came up with or the suits of armour her parents would sometimes be examining.

Lance traces the blue, stylized ‘V’ on the breastplate in wonder.

“This is your armour,” Allura explains, “The panel recognizes you through your bond with the Blue Lion and as thus, you are the only one who can access the armour when it’s in this room.” Allura gently grabs Lances hand and uses her finger to tap a gem on the suit’s gauntlets.

The suit seems to disintegrate before her eyes, the fabric and metal melting away into the gauntlet beneath her hand before the gauntlet itself seems to shrink into a bracer of sorts. It only extends halfway up the forearm instead of covering all of it. It’s still blue, but darker now.

Lance can hear Pidge swear behind her.

Allura gently takes it off the mannequin and places it on Lance’s wrist. It’s not as heavy as it should be and fits comfortably on her skin. She then steps back and instructs Lance to tap the gem again.

Fabric materializes up her arm, extending over her like a wave. The sensation is odd and tickles slightly as the black fabric overtakes her and leaves her standing not in jeans and her jacket but the suit of armour. Not a spot on her is left bare except her face, the black suit extending up her throat and the back of her neck, protecting the weak spots there.

It’s comfy and hugs her figure in a way armour normally isn’t supposed to do. Lance thinks it might even make her seem curvier than she actually is.

 _“Holy shit,”_ Pidge says, and Lance can’t help but agree with her. “You have a goddamn Black Panther suit of armour! _Oh my god.”_

Allura looks at the smaller paladin confused.  “I’m unfamiliar with that animal. We had meant to fashion the armour after the Lions.”

“No, it’s like a superhero on our planet,” Pidge explains. “He has this vibranium armour that basically does _that”_ Pidge waves a hand and Lance, “and it’s _super_ strong.”

“Oh! You’re familiar with the metal then?” Allura claps her hands together excitedly.

The team looks at her with varying levels of incredulity. “That cannot _actually_ be vibranium,” Pidge tells her, voice soft and looking like she’s trying very hard not to scream. Lance looks down at her hands with her eyes wide. Inside her head is just a steady stream of _‘Holy shit. Holy shit. I’m wearing vibranium armour. Holy_ fuck _this is the coolest thing ever.’_

Allura furrows her brows. “But it is? Is it a rare element on your planet?” she gasps, “Does it not occur naturally on your world?” She looks at them pityingly.

Lance looks to the other humans in the room, all of them look various levels of freaked out. Hunk has his head in his hands and he’s muttering something about overly advanced aliens and fictional metals and what that means for comic books and does that mean Marvel actually _knew_ about aliens?

Lance tunes him out because that train of thought leads nowhere good and it’s giving her a headache after only a few seconds.

“Okay. I’m wearing super armour. Cool, cool cool cool cool,” Lance says voice only slightly strained. “Does that mean I can gather the kinetic energy and repurpose it later?”

Allura gives her a look that says nothing nice. “Don’t be ridiculous. That kind of technology is still years off.” Pidge emits a high-pitched whine where she’s standing, looking like all her dreams are coming true and that she has no idea how to handle it.

Allura pauses, tapping her chin, “Though, it has been over ten thousand years. Perhaps the Olkari have had a breakthrough.”

Pidge’s whine gets higher if possible and Lance looks at her with sympathy. The poor dear is going to have an aneurysm at this rate.

“Maybe just tell me the highlights of this suit right here? That sounds like a topic I should know about and won’t cause Pidge to die an early death via excitement.”

Allura nods confusedly but obliges. “Pidge, why don’t you get in your armour too? It’s on the far wall.”

Pidge books it to the wall so fast, she almost slams into it.

Allura must deem it an odd human thing and ignores it.

“The gauntlets on your wrists have gems in them. Depending on what you want them to do, they’ll either activate or deactivate the suit or materialize your Bayard. The Bayard is the traditional weapon of the Paladins and will take the form of a weapon most suited to you and your skill set.”

Lance hums and fiddles with the gems on her wrists.

“If you tap right here,” Allura leans down and touches her hand right underneath Lance’s right ear. It causes the paladin to shiver, not expecting the feather-light touch. “the helmet will deploy. It has built-in communicators to the other paladin helmets, a private and public channel. The visor has a transparent and opaque feature, should you wish for an opponent to not see your face. It will also deploy automatically if an energy blast occurs close enough to your head.

“Eventually you’ll be able to deploy your Bayard and helmet with your mind as your suit becomes more accustomed to your thoughts.”

“Oh my god, is the suit psychic too?” Lance asks.

“I suppose you could call it that,” Allura hums while Lance is having a mini break down. What the fuck has Earth been _doing_? Aliens were so advanced it makes Lance physically pained. She can’t imagine how Pidge or Hunk feels right now. “It also has a stealth feature but that isn’t useful at the moment.” she taps her chin in thought. “I believe that is all. Oh! As the suit grows more accustomed to how you fight and move, it will begin to calibrate itself to your needs. It might add more armour here or there or prioritize flexibility over defensive power. It’s quite fascinating! Though Coran explains it much better than I could.”

Lance looks over to Pidge to see how she’s faring with this and sees the other Paladin in a suit much like her own but it’s Green and more… compact? If that’s the word for it.

Pidge was staring down at her wrists in concentration and tapping at the gem on her left wrist. A second later the gem flashes a bright light and in her hand is a small, glowing, triangle shaped knife. The grip she has on it reminds Lance of a katar, though the blade is too wide to be completely like the traditional weapon.

Pidge looks at it appraisingly. Turning it over in her hand.

Lance leans over her shoulder to get a closer look at the weapon and can’t help herself. “What do you have?”

Pidge doesn’t miss a beat. “A knife!”

“No!” Lance says in fake distress. She can hear Hunk echo it behind her and grins. “It’s kinda small? Though I did figure you as a dagger person I suppose.”

Pidge presses a button on the hilt with her thumb and electricity crackles along the blade. Lance jumps back and Pidge grins evilly. “Oh yes. I like this very much.”

Lance looks at her warily and summons her own Bayard.

Her wrist flashes with light and in her hands is a rifle. She twists it around, testing the weight of it and finds it’s really light, almost too light in her opinion. It looks like no gun she’s ever held and reminds her of a bit of the Pulse Rifle from _Aliens--_ which, ironic as hell--but smoother. More round and smaller than the movie.

She doesn’t see anywhere to load ammunition which is confusing, but maybe it’s just different in space. She raises the gun and looks down the sights at the far wall. A small screen opens in front of her, light blue and transparent, like a digital scope.

Lance whistles appreciatively. “ _This_ is what I call weaponry.”

The lights flash red, and CORINN’s voice sounds from above. “Estimated time of Galra warship is ten dobashes.”

The smile falls from Lance’s face as she looks at Pidge, the reminder of the danger they’re in destroying all humor in the room. The younger Paladin looks scared and Lance wants to hug her but knows it wouldn’t be appreciated.

Allura looks to each of them solemnly, before stepping forward and grasping each by the shoulder. “I believe in you, Paladins,” she tells them seriously, her eyes like steel. “You are meant to be _great_. Your stories do not end here.”

The two paladins nod and leave for the hangars, the other three humans on their heels.

Lance turns back around to see Allura with her hands clasped and eyes closed. She almost looks like she’s praying.

It doesn’t fill her with confidence.

***

Hunk stops Lance just as she’s about to board Azura after Shiro gives them one last ‘good luck’ pep talk. He grabs her hand, his larger palms dwarfing her own nimble fingers.

She stops and looks back at him, immediately regretting the decision because it looks like Hunk is about to cry. Her own eyes become glassy in response.

She throws her arms around him without him needing to ask. He squeezes her tightly to his chest, almost crushing her but she doesn’t care, she just returns it as ferociously, gloved hands balled into the back of his shirt.

“Be careful. Please. Just be careful. Come back safe because I don’t know what I’d do without you okay? And I don’t want to find out,” Hunk babbles into the top of her head where he’s pressed his mouth.

“Promise.”

Hunk gives her one more squeeze and then he steps back. She can see in the stiffness of his shoulders it’s the last thing he wants to do.

She remembers him telling her how whenever she went on her adventures or step in front of some bully, he’d want to pull her away. Wanted to wrap her in a blanket and never let her leave so she couldn’t be hurt.

Now, when all of her adventures and dangerous decisions pale in the face of what she’s about to do, the desire must be unbearable.

But he doesn’t move. Because he won’t control her. Because she won’t stay.

Because they aren’t those kind of people.

He understands and if he can’t stop her then he’ll wait and help her pick up the pieces. And in return, she’ll come back. She will always come back.

Lance smiles at him, big and bright and too wide. She blows him a kiss as she disappears inside of Azura. The last thing she sees before the lock closes is him cradling it to his chest.

***

A booming voice echoes across to the two hovering Lions from the warship. _“Attention Paladins. This is Commander Sendak of the Galra Empire. I come on behalf of Emperor Zarkon, Lord of the Known Universe. I am here to confiscate the Lions. Turn them over to me, or I will destroy your planet."_

The pair share a smile that’s more like a snarl than any display of happiness.

Then they _attack._

***

Katie’s brain spins faster than anyone else she knows. Calculations _burn_ through her mind at the speed of light and sometimes it hurts so much she feels like _screaming_ because she thinks it might make it go away. Might make her too fast mind just _slow down_ if only for a second.

Her head has always been a swirling mass of angles and ideas and analysis and that doesn’t change even as fire rains from the sky or as Green growls in the back of her mind and guides her along the unfamiliar controls.

It’s still too much information and a hundred calculations but it seems to go _smooth_ in the heat of the moment. As Green growls and roars in the back of her mind, her head miraculously stops screaming _at_ her and instead begins working _with_ her.

The scattered bits of her mind all come together and start analyzing the battlefield and how Lance moves in her Lion and counts how many Galra fighters rain down on them and where they come from and a thousand other variables and calculations that spin through her mind. It all files itself in neat little rows for her own perusal as she focuses on staying alive.

The two take to the skies and the fight like they were always meant to be here. Katie learns quickly how to pilot her Lion and within minutes, she’s snapping at fighters and avoiding laser beams with the same grace Lance has.

It’s hard and they take too many hits in the beginning, but they adapt and plan and scheme over the comms.

Katie is calculations and angles, but Lance knows how battle plans work, can work out strategies as easy as breathing. Katie remembers tactics being the Cuban's best subject and it shows.

The pair shout encouragement and watch each other backs as they slowly make their way to the warship. Halfway through, the castle joins the fray. It’s more of a bug to the warship than anything, but it’s a good enough distraction for Lance as she darts in and flings knife after knife from her Lion’s tail. Embedding themselves deep into the hull and causing massive damage.

Katie covers her as she rips the ion cannon straight off of the ship. It causes an explosion so big it rocks her through the cockpit and sends both Lions flying. Her ears are still ringing when she rights herself again and looks over the damage they’ve done.

She can hear the team yelling encouragement through the comms and it makes her feel powerful, makes her risk more than she should. She feels the well of anger at these people who stole her family bubble up, fed by the screams of her teammates and the threats they made towards this planet.

Katie feels almost feral in her rage as she dives in without giving Lance enough warning to cover her and _digs_ her claws into the ship's engines and tears it apart like paper. She does the damage she wanted but galra fighters are hitting her too hard and she’s falling through the sky along with the Galra warship.

Lance swoops down and grabs her Lion by the scruff at the last second, pulling them out of the blast radius as the ship explodes in a ball of flame.

Katie grins, even as she can feel bruises form on her chest from slamming into the console and Lance screams in her ear about _warning_ her when she’s going to be suicidal.

She feels a sick sense of satisfaction at the destruction she’s made, and she doesn’t care enough to be concerned or sorry about it.

***

Lance drops the Green Lion as gently as she can in front of the castle, but Azura is pretty beat up too and she’s limping at best. The two Lions collapse in the courtyard and Lance stumbles out as quickly as she can, staggering to the Green Lion.

She feels suddenly tired. A bone-deep ache where she can barely keep her eyes open. Azura’s voice is strangely quiet in her mind. Or maybe Azura was just loud during the battle?

Pidge emerges from her Lion and Lance sweeps her into a hug as tight as she dares, spinning the pair in circles.

She needs to feel the smaller girl in her arms, needs to know she’s okay. She won’t say it but seeing Pidge dart towards the ship had caused Lance’s heart to stop. It terrified her in a way normally only reserved for when her family was in trouble.

She didn’t know what that meant for her and these almost strangers she found herself with, but she pushes it to the back of her mind. She’ll have time to think about it later.

“We did it! We did it!” she cheers, causing Pidge to laugh lightly and swat at her shoulder.

The castle doors open and Lance spins around to see the other’s running out towards them, Hunk leading the charge. He doesn’t slow down until he has Lance in his arms. He just slams into her and picks up both her and Pidge with ease, spinning them both around in a bone-crushing hug.

Lance laughs even as it hurts her ribs and jars where her shoulders had slammed into the seat one too many times. Hunk is babbling about how cool that was and that Pidge should never do that again and how he’s _so glad_ they’re both okay.

It fills Lance with joy. That she can still count on Hunk being _Hunk_ even as she takes down a galra warship. It makes her feel _unbearably_ fond for her best friend.

“You both did wonderfully,” Allura praises, beaming at them.

Hunk stops spinning them enough for her and Pidge to look at the princess and Lance shoots her a devilish smirk. “Well, it was just the thought of your beautiful face that kept me going, sugar cube.”

Pidge groans and shoves Lance’s face away but not before she sees Allura roll her eyes and fight to keep a smile off her face. It makes Lance’s chest warm.

Hunk finally sets them down, after one last squeeze that has the pair of them wheezing. Shiro steps up to them, pride shining through every part of his face and every movement he makes. He’s beaming with it as he stares down at the two girls and it feels like she’s done something _incredible_.

“You did it and I never doubted you for a second. You were _amazing_ out there.”

“Thanks, Shiro,” Pidge says a smile overtaking her small features.

Lance wants to bask in that moment forever. The thrill of winning, of thinking they can actually _do this,_ that everything will be okay, and they’ll win this war without anything going wrong.

She knows that’s not the case. That it’s dangerous to think that way, to get a big head after one lucky shot. But she can’t help it. She so desperately needs hope that she’ll latch onto anything she can. You use what you can to keep your head above the churning waters of the mind.

Lance’s stomach grumbling interrupts her, admittedly kinda dark, train of thought. The sound startles her and then her expression turns sheepish, her hand coming up to cover her stomach.

“I believe a celebratory feast is in order,” Coran exclaims raising his hands in the air excitedly. “In honor of our two heroes! Hurrah!”

The other’s echo the cheer around her and Lance beams. “Oh good, I’m _starving._ Think we can make quesadillas? _”_

“What is a ‘quesadilla’?” Allura asks and Lance looks at her in horror.

“Oh, you poor thing,” she coos, face twisted in pity. She whips around to look at her best friend, visibly distressed. “Hunk, we need to educate them immediately. They’ve been deprived of the most amazing food their whole lives!”

“A travesty,” he deadpans, but Lance can see he looks a little sympathetic underneath it. He’s just teasing her which she takes offense to. He’s supposed to be on her side!

“Hey! Don’t you take that tone with me.” Lance scolds, fighting the smile twitching at the corner of her lips. “I’m a _hero,”_ she sniffs.

“You’re something alright,” Hunk laughs. “Come on, let’s go eat.” He swings an arm over her shoulders all but dragging her to the doors. Lance laughs as her hair falls into her face at the movement.

“What about the Lions?” she hears Pidge ask curiously, and Lance looks back at them, sprawled across the courtyard as they are.

Worry overtakes her mind as she looks back at Azura. Her Lion really was too quiet, almost silent in the back of her mind. It felt wrong, just having herself in her head now. It was a completely insane thought, but it was too quiet in her head and her head has never been too quiet in her _life._

It set her teeth on edge and she was about to walk back to her Lion when she reared up in her mind again. Soothing and tired.

She assures Lance she’ll be fine, that she need only rest a bit. Lance nods, trusting her thousand years old warship can take care of herself.

Lance hums in acknowledgment as Coran repeats the same thing in so many words and the seven of them all walk back to the castle. A steady stream of noise and laughter fill her ears right up until she just gets so tired, she falls asleep on Hunk’s shoulder at the kitchen table.

They don’t have quesadillas but it’s nice anyway.

The lull of people speaking around her feels familiar and settles in her chest contentedly.

Her eyelids droop further and further. Eventually, it gets to be too much work to keep them open and so she leans on Hunk and let’s sleep take her, confident that Hunk will either wake her up or put her somewhere she can rest comfortably.

She’s been awake far longer than she should’ve been and it’s time to rest.


	4. Our Team (was built from the ground up)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: team bonding may or may not cause explosive results. Please use with care.

Lance comes to herself slowly, the darkness of the room muffling the sounds of her roommate getting ready. She stretches languidly, feeling her spine pop nicely as she slowly wakes up.

It’s not until she opens her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling that she realizes that she can’t hear her roommate shuffling around because her roommate isn’t even _there._ Lance doesn’t know where she is, sitting alone in the darkness of a room she doesn’t recognize sends panic flooding through her.

She shoots up in bed and thinks of screaming when a clear and calm voice sounds from overhead.

 _“Good morning, Blue Paladin,”_ the voice tells her in accented Spanish, and slowly the lights in the room get brighter allowing her eyes to adjust. _“You are safe aboard the Castle of Lions. There is no need to panic. Your fellow Paladins are either still sleeping or enjoying breakfast in the dining area.”_

CORINN’s voice causes everything to rush back to her. The crash, the Lions, the Galra, everything. Lance sits there for a moment just breathing, trying to realign her world view.

Now that she’s not in the heat of the moment, now that she’s alone in a dimly lit room, everything seems so much harder to believe. It’s ridiculous, to believe that she’s the chosen pilot of a magic robot Lion. She’d think herself crazy if she couldn’t feel Azura purring in the back of her mind at that moment.

She can almost convince herself that if she walks out that door, she’ll find herself back at the Garrison. But she knows that that’s a useless way of thinking, and she needs to _adapt_ to her surroundings not ignore them. Otherwise, she won’t help anyone.

Mind made up she pushes herself to her feet and tries to gather her bearings.

The room she’s in has pristine, soft grey walls with glowing blue designs inlaid into them and plush carpet like flooring. The bed she was sleeping on was pushed into an alcove in the wall and across from it was a small desk and chest. The room was decently large if bare.

To her left was a door that she presumed led outside as the one to her right was open and led to a small bathroom area. Lance wondered if there was a closet, or if there was only the chest.

 _“CORINN? Where am I?”_ she asks in Spanish because the AI seems to understand her and it’s nice to speak her language to someone other than Hunk.

_“You are currently in your new quarters located in the west wing of the castle, Blue Paladin.”_

Lance looks around what’s apparently her new room and tilts her head. _“Did Hunk bring me here?”_

_“That is correct. Allura placed you all in the old guest rooms for visiting dignitaries. They are the most centrally located rooms so you many get anywhere in the castle within a timely manner.”_

Lance hums and looks down at herself. She’s still wearing her two-day-old clothes and wrinkles her nose in response. She moves to the chest and opens it hoping to find something inside but coming up empty-handed. _“Are there any spare clothes I could use? Something to change into?”_

A small whooshing noise sounds off to Lance’s right and a small doorway next to the bathroom opens up. It leads into a small side room that Lance enters curiously. Once she steps inside the lights come on and she finds herself in what looks like a sewing room slash closet.

In the corner, there’s a full-length mirror and a circular floor panel like in the cryopod room. To her right, the wall is covered with clothing racks while the wall to her left is filled with shelves full of fabrics and designs.

Lance stares around the small, colorful room in awe.

_“This is the Dressing Room, each of the Paladins’ quarters are equipped with one. While Outfit Design and Creation programs are currently offline, you should be able to find something suitable to wear until systems are running at full capacity once again.”_

_“Thank you,”_ Lance tells the AI and means it.

She spends the next five minutes flicking through the clothing rack trying to find something she likes that also fits her. She eventually settles on a dark blue tank top she tucks into high waisted jean-like shorts, pulling her black jacket on over all of it. She runs a hand through her hair and makes a face. Once she finds Allura and demands hygiene products off of her--the good stuff because you don’t use general shampoo on hair like _that--_ she’s taking a shower ASAP.

She shoves her boots onto her feet and then rummages around the bathroom before crying out in victory when she finds some rudimentary makeup products. The labels are all in Altean, so she has CORINN read them to her.

Ten more minutes later Lance sets out to find the others for breakfast. With her makeup done, hair carefully piled atop her head and paladin bracer tied faithfully onto her wrist, she finally feels ready to face her team of almost strangers.

***

Back on Earth, the Garrison has three missing kids that aren’t really missing on their hands.

The heads of the program need a cover story and send out the generals to inform the families of Lance Martinez, Henare Garrett, and the newly realized Katie Holt that there had been an accident. That Lance, piloting an unauthorized in atmosphere ship, lost control of the vessel and crashed into the desert.

 _None of the students survived the crash,_ they lie.

 _There are no remains to bury or identify,_ they lie.

 _We are sorry for your loss,_ they lie.

The parents grieve. They cry and they make arrangements. They begin mourning their lost children.

But the sisters, the three eldest of the Martinez brood, they cry and then they _question_. They poke holes. They hold out hope because Lance--their beautiful younger sister, their wonderful pilot who grew up in the belly of a plane--would _never_ have lost control that badly.

The sisters are suspicious.

The sisters are angry.

The sisters will stop at nothing until they learn the truth. Until their baby sister is back in their arms, safe and sound.

The sisters do not care who they have to go through to do it.

***

Halfway through breakfast, Coran sweeps into the room to find all five humans eating at the table. He’s dressed in more casual attire now. He’s still wearing fancier pants than Lance has ever owned, but his shirt is more of a t-shirt that’s covered in what looks like oil smudges. He even has a prominent one across his right cheek, staining his skin an even darker brown. His hair is also a _mess_ , sticking up in no less than five different directions and covered in grease.

His mustache, oddly enough, is still as pristine as ever.

He gives the group a beaming smile that only her and Hunk return, the others still not awake enough to function properly. “Ah! You’re all wake. Excellent.”

“Morning Coran,” Lance greets, swallowing the breakfast Hunk made from food goo and random spices that survived 10,000 years in altean cupboards. Somehow, it still tastes decent. Not good, but still loads better than before. “What’s up?”

“You’re all needed in the Bridge immediately. The Princess seems to have an announcement for you,” he informs brightly before bouncing off on his way.

Lance looks after him curiously. Her and Hunk shrug at each other and move to get up from the table. It takes some coaxing to get the others to even stand up, but eventually, all five of them are making their merry way to the Bridge.

Shiro leads them through the doors but it’s Lance who speaks first, bursting through the door with what her elder sisters described as ‘too much damn energy for this early in the morning.’ “Allura! Light of my life! You are as _radiant_ as the morning sun. How did you sleep? I can’t imagine very well, what with you featuring so prominently in my dreams.”

Her only response is a deadpan stare--which, rude. But she understands. Hunk is normally the only person who can handle her in the mornings. It’s not her fault Allura is just over there being all effortlessly beautiful at whatever-the-hell-time-it-is o’clock, what else is there for a girl to do when presented with someone so goddamn _gorgeous?_

Shiro gives her a blank stare before addressing Allura like the straight-laced commander he was. “You wanted to see us, Princess?”

“Yes. While Coran has been working nonstop at trying to get the main power grid back up and running so we can access our secondary systems, I’ve been creating a training regimen for you five. The Yellow Lion is on a Galra occupied planet and we need to retrieve it as soon as possible. So, I’ve decided that today will be dedicated to training!”

Allura beams at them all, hands clapping together excitedly. Lance tries to be hopeful, she really does, but it’s kind of hard when Allura’s smile looks so predatory.

***

Lance regrets everything.

Every choice she ever made in her life that led her to be tortured by this devil disguised as an angel was a mistake. She can barely breathe, and everything hurts.

Allura had been running them ragged for the last two hours. She pushed them farther than even the Garrison did in P.E. They ran, did burpees, pull-ups, squats, this weird altean yoga that was somehow _worse_ than the three-mile run and anything else you could think of; all in their paladin armor. She didn’t even let them wear proper workout clothes!

And throughout the whole thing, the Princess hadn’t _once_ stopped shouting at them. Lance didn’t know if it was supposed to be encouraging or not, but it was easily the most terrifying thing she’s ever heard in her life.

Hunk threw up halfway through and she just told him to ‘walk it off.’

Lance was ready to cry, like actual break down sobbing _tears,_ when Allura finally allowed them a break.

The whole team fell over immediately.

Well, except for Shiro who sat down like a civilized person because there’s no way he’s _actually_ human. He only looked _a little_ sweaty.

It wasn’t fair in the slightest.

Either the Galra did more than just give him a new arm or Shiro was actually Superman.

Lance is betting on the latter. Mostly because it would be cooler.

“Okay, Paladins,” Allura calls cheerfully. Hunk whimpers and Keith swears colorfully. Lance doesn’t have the energy to do anything but blink. “Now that our warm-up is over-” Hunk’s whimper turns into a high pitched and mildly offended whine that Allura completely ignores. Pidge joins Keith in swearing in increasingly creative ways. “We can move onto our team bonding exercises! Coran will be leading this portion while I run diagnostic checks on the castle defenses and secondary systems.”

 _“Oh, thank god,”_ Lance mutters breathlessly. Bonding sounds fun, it might give her muscles a chance to stop spasming in pain.

***

It turns out what Coran’s training lacks in physical exertion, it makes up for its _overwhelming aggravation._

“The Paladin Code’s most important rule is to protect your Lion and your fellow Paladins at all costs. At the moment we will be focusing on protecting your team. A flurry of drones will attack you in t-minus five ticks, keep your teammates safe for as long as possible!”

“I’m sorry, _what?”_ Pidge snaps as the drones rise out of the floor and take aim.

Lance’s eyes widen to the size of saucers and she raises her hands in front of her face as it fires a shot right at her. A flash of light explodes from her wrist and then there’s a glowing blue shield blocking the attacks.

The first two seconds are chaos and they lose Pidge in the resulting shuffle. The green Paladin lays on the floor, a light blue glow covering her chest as she glares at the ceiling.

“Circle formation!” Shiro shouts. “Backs to each other!”

The remaining four back up at his order. Lance is shoulder to shoulder with Keith on her left and Hunk on her right.

She may or may not prioritize her right side more than her left.

A shot whizzes by Keith’s shoulder, one that would’ve hit him if he hadn’t dodged it in time. It’s also something Lance could’ve blocked if she cared enough to try.

He throws a scalding look in her direction.

“Are you even trying?” he snaps at her which she returns with a vicious grin as she covers Hunk without thinking about it.

“‘Course I am!” she shoots back, voice a little too sharp for the bright tone she’s going for. “I just thought the hotshot pilot could look after _himself.”_

“Maybe if you put your pride away for five seconds and concentrated on keeping me _safe_ -” he’s cut off by Hunk yelping. He was too slow at lowering his shield and Lance was too busy being angry at Keith to help.

He goes down and then it’s only the three of them. Lance and Shiro close ranks to fill the gap. She concentrates for all of five seconds before she decides to goad Keith again. She lets another shot whizz by. This time closer to his face.

“Oops,” she says sugary sweet.

Keith growls and none too gently shoves her in the side. She shoves him back and it’s not long before all three of them are out too.

***

“Forming Voltron requires immense trust in your fellow Paladins. A building block for that trust will be the invisible maze. Your partner can see the walls, but you cannot. Listen carefully or else you’ll be in for a _shock._ ” Coran laughs lightly.

Lance makes a face. She’d been _voluntold_ to go first in the maze, and she didn’t appreciate it one bit.

“Please tell me my partner is Hunk,” she begs Coran. Instead of answering, Keith’s quiet timber of a voice speaks through her comms.

 _“Tienes que estar bromeando.”_ She scowls. “You’re pairing me up with _Keith?”_

“I’ve noticed a bit of friction between the two of you,” Coran informs brightly. “Nothing like a good old invisible maze to build a foundation of trust and friendship!”

Lance blows a strand of hair out of her face angrily but doesn’t argue further than an unhappy growl. _“Fine._ Guide me, oh, wise being,” she drawls sarcastically, cocking her hip out and waving her hand in invitation.

“Take two steps forward then turn right.”

Warily, she follows his orders, hand held out in front of her and shoulders tensed in expectation of an electrical shock.

She takes one step and runs straight into a wall.

“You did that on purpose!” she screeches, cradling her tingling hand to her chest.

 _“Oops,”_ he deadpans.

Lance feels a snarl catch in her throat.

“Remember the task,” Coran reminds, voice slightly strained.

“Move half a step to your right.”

Lance glares at the observation deck where she knows Keith is standing. She stares him right in the eye and slowly, _theatrically_ , she sits down on the ground.

“ _Lance_ ,” his voice is sharp as he tries to order her to move. “Come on, stop being childish. Move half a step to your right.”

Lance stays still.

She stays still long after Keith starts yelling at her. It’s almost cute how he thinks screaming will get her to move. He has nothing on a pissed off Francisca, and she could’ve sat there all day if Coran hadn’t eventually switched Keith out with Pidge.

***

“Okay. This should be a fun exercise! You’ll all be placed on a raised platform. You must all stay on it for as long as possible, use each other and your own creativity. Get up close and personal with your teammates. Don’t be shy now!”

The five of them are standing on a floating platform about five feet above the training floor. There’s plenty of room atop it for all of them to stand comfortably.

Lance scoffs, “This’ll be a breeze!”

Right as she says that the platform shrinks around them, the outer five inches disappearing. Lance yelps and moves closer to the center.

“You had to say something didn’t you?”

Lance glares at Keith.

Another five inches fall away.

The group gets closer together.

“What if we sat on each other’s shoulders?” Pidge suggests.

Another five inches fall away.

Lance pushes herself into Hunk’s side.

“We’d never be able to balance!”

Five inches.

Pidge grabs her arm.

“Well, I don’t see you providing any _ideas.”_

Five inches.

Shiro presses into her back.

“We need to work together.”

Four inches.

Keith tries desperately to keep the scant inch between their bodies from disappearing.

“If you touch me, Kogane, so help me _God.”_

Three inches.

Keith makes a face at her and totters dangerously, his heels over the edge.

“What do you want me to do? Fly?”

Two inches.

Hunk grabs Keith’s arm.

“I’d prefer you fall actually.”

One inch.

The distance closes as Keith lurches forward, the platform falling out from beneath his heels. He grabs Lance’s upper arms to regain his balance, but she tries pushing him off in surprise and disgust.

He falls backward and tugs Lance with him.

Hunk and Pidge reach for her.

They miss.

Lance squeals and slams into Keith’s front.

His arms instinctively curl around her while her own are crushed between their chests.

They slam into the ground.

 _Hard_.

Keith hisses in pain beneath her and Lance groans from where she’d hit her head on her shoulder. Raising her head, she meets his dazed gaze. He blinks slowly, his unnatural purple eyes catching the light _just so_.

They stare at each other for a moment, neither of them moving.

“Are you guys okay?” Hunk calls anxiously.

Lance shoots up as if she’d been burned. Pushing against his chest she places as much distance between their faces as possible. His hands are still on her hips and she wrenches herself away from their grip, sprawling across the floor.

“Get away from me!” she says, tone acerbic.

Keith stares after her confused and opens his mouth to say something. It’s cut off by Hunk falling off the platform with a heavy _thump_ , Shiro not far behind him.

Lance raises her head to see Pidge balancing on the last bit of platform left, her hands raised triumphantly in the air.

“I win!”

***

Coran decides they would benefit from a lunch break and gives them ten minutes to eat and relax.

The team is in a loose circle but it’s clear where the division lies. Shiro and Keith are turned half towards each other and Lance is pressed up against Hunk, her feet thrown over Pidge’s lap who glowers but allows the contact without complaint.

They’re meant to be _one_ team, but it feels more like a truce between two separate groups than anything else.

Pidge and her hadn’t been overly close back at the Garrison. They didn’t braid each other's hair or have sleepovers. Hell, she’s not even sure Pidge entirely _likes_ her. Which hurts, but she can understand, she’s a bit much at times. Loud and in your face in a way people so rarely care for.

But regardless, Lance considered Pidge _hers_ in the same way she considered Hunk or her family, _hers._

It doesn’t matter if Pidge likes her or not--well it kinda matters to her but not in an important way--because those that are _hers_ are taken care of. Are cared for and treasured. She hoards them like a dragon, her precious people. She makes sure they are safe and loved and happy.

She didn’t feel that same kind of possession with Shiro or Keith. Or at least not as sharply with Shiro because come on, he’s her _hero._ She likes Shiro well enough, wants to help him and keep him but he isn’t _hers._

Not yet at least.

She doesn’t think she’ll ever want Keith though. Not with his arrogance, not with his dismissive personality, not with the way he crawls under her skin, but she can never seem to get under his in any way that matters. He’s too much of everything she dislikes, everything she fears.

It seemed there was little other than this war and some grand destiny tying them together. Lance didn’t know how to close the gap that yawned between them like a chasm, didn’t know if she really wanted to in the first place.

She’s pulled from her thoughts when Allura charges into the room, face thunderous. “CORINN informed me you’re all sitting around doing nothing. Why aren’t you training?”

“It a lunch break,” Lance tells Allura, her mouth full of jelly pouch.

“Yes, you know,” Coran speaks matter of factly, “breaks are good for the overall health of a group. You can’t push too hard in these things.”

“You’ll get a break when we have the Yellow Lion. Get up, you lazy lumps! We’re running drills.”

The response she receives is not terribly enthusiastic.

***

They spend another two and a half hours doing individual drills which is a relief after the fiasco their teamwork was.

They’re made to run an obstacle course, specifically designed to challenge the individual and test their strengths and highlight weaknesses.

Pidge screams her frustration at being unable to grab the monkey bars and it’s not until twenty minutes later that she calms down.

Keith ends up tangled in the hanging ropes and Lance doesn’t stop laughing until Allura makes her run the course and she almost twists her ankle on the apex ladder.

Shiro, unsurprisingly, does amazing and makes almost no mistakes.

After that, Allura spars with each of them individually while the ones not fighting run laps. Well, sparring is a kind term for what she did which is systematically lay each of them flat on their backs. She beats each of them into the ground a couple of times before she starts slowing down and actually showing them counter moves to what she’s doing.

She’s not kind about it and she teaches them mostly by knocking them over with the same move until they learn how to block or dodge the hit properly. Woman of her dreams or no, it makes Lance want to throttle her.

The only problem is she can’t get _close enough._

Lance has bruises on her bruises by the end of it, but she’s determined to take something positive away from this experience _dammit._

She’s expanded the base of self-defense the Garrison drilled into her. Everything hurts and her mood is dark and sour, but she’s learned something at least. She’ll take what she can get.

Coran eventually pulls Allura away from beating them up to recalibrate the castle systems but not before she has CORINN create specialized workouts for each paladin and instructs them to do them every day or else.

Lance eventually begs her hair products off of her before taking a shower, the warm water soothing her aching muscles. She stays in there for an hour, standing underneath the pounding water. Somehow, they have the perfect water pressure and it never gets cold.

The experience is downright _therapeutic_.

She contemplates just crashing into bed and skipping dinner entirely, but her stomach gnaws hungrily at her, so she puts new clothes on. She exchanges her shorts and tank top for black leggings and a comfy, slightly oversized, light blue sweater that hangs off her shoulder. Blue slippers shaped like Azura cover her feet and her hair is pulled up in a messy bun. Her makeup is still going strong and Lance praises every altean that existed for their god-like setting spray.

Comfy and clean, she makes her way back to the dining room.

When she enters the room, she finds everyone else already there waiting at the table. At the sight of her, they all brighten.

“Oh, Lance, thank god,” Hunk exclaims. “Coran said we should eat as a team, so we’ve been waiting for you to show up. Now we can eat!”

“Sorry I held up the party,” she apologizes, taking the only seat left which was between Hunk and Keith. She not-so-subtly turns her chair in Hunk’s direction.

Allura sits at the head of the table, Coran to her right. The older engineer pushes a button and plates of food float down in front of them. The humans eagerly reach out for the plates, ready to start loading food into their mouths so they can go to bed. But when Coran pushes another button, Lance’s arms are yanked off course.

Her wrists slam into something and turning to look at her hands, she finds a glowing blue cuff connecting her to Hunk’s right arm and Keith’s left.

“What is happening,” Lance asks flatly, tugging on the wrist connected to Keith. All it does is drag his arm with it. He yanks his arm back which causes a mini tug of war between the two of them.

Hunk pulls on her other wrist, dragging her across the table and sticking her hand in food goo.

“Hunk!”

“I’m sorry!”

“I saw a lot of solid individual performances today,” Coran explains. “but you're all still struggling to work as a team. So, welcome to the final bonding exercise of the day!”

Lance glares. She just wants to eat her food and sleep. She didn’t sign up for another bullshit bonding exercise.

“Coran,” Hunk states calmly, “I want you to think about what you're doing here.”

“Yeah you don’t get between a girl and her food,” Pidge agrees from where she’s tugging viciously at the wrist connected to her chair’s armrest.

“Do you humans _ever_ stop complaining?” Allura snaps annoyed.

Lance turns to glower at her, the move is mirrored by both Keith and Pidge. “Do you alteans ever stop being killjoys?”

“You do not yell at the Princess!” Coran stands abruptly, aghast at the supposed offense.

Pidge scoffs. “Oh, the princess of _what?_ We’re the only ones here and she’s no _princess_ of ours.” Her voice is scathing when she speaks, words sharp and with the intent to slice mercilessly. Pidge had enjoyed the training day even less than Lance did and the younger girl was a lot worse at hiding her anger.

Lance opens her mouth to agree with her friend when something whizzes by her nose and hits Pidge in the face.

For a moment, no one breathes.

Allura stands at the head of the table, arm still outstretched.

The food goo slides slowly off of Pidge’s face to reveal her scowl. The kind of scowl that would give a weaker person nightmares.

She lets out a sound not unlike a growl before both she and Keith reach forward and fling a plate back at the Princess, twin snarls on their faces.

Coran deflects the plate with a towel at the last moment and throws it back at them, sweeping it in an arc that covers all the humans in dripping goo.

From there it devolves into chaos.

Anything within reach is grabbed and thrown. Hunk spits mouthfuls of food at the alteans. Keith and Lance throw entire plates and Pidge commandeers a spoon to fling it at them. Lance tries ducking behind Hunk and Keith but is only successful at evading the food for so long. At some point, their chairs had been pushed back because all of them are standing by the end.

Lance turns to look at her fellow Paladins and finds them all covered in food, the green muck splattered on their clothes and across faces. They all look ridiculous and she knows she is as well, but it’s too funny not to laugh. Especially when Allura slumps in her seat, not a speck on her, because she favored defense rather than offense like them.

Soon the others are joining her, full-bodied laughter raking through them as they realize how silly they all are.

“Don’t you see what you're doing?” Allura’s voice cuts through their laughter like a knife. They’re silent as they stare at her in shock, wondering if they’d really offended her that badly. Then she lifts her face and her eyes are practically sparkling. “You were finally working together! As a _team.”_

Lance blinks. They had been, haven’t they? She looks to her right where Keith still stands, almost pressed against her side. She still doesn’t understand him and doesn’t like him, but after seeing him laugh and smile and get brained by a plate of alien food, it’s harder to reconcile him with the boy she hates so much.

The chasm seems a little smaller than before, less wide and gaping between them. Lance isn’t sure how she feels about it but decides to deliberate on it later.

It’s a good ending to a horrible day, she thinks.

They even keep laughing when Hunk slips on some goo and goes tumbling down, dragging the rest of them with him.

***

The next two days repeat in roughly the same pattern.

Wake up. Work out. Allura beats them into the dirt. Coran makes them do weird bonding exercises that have a 50-50 chance of blowing up in their faces. Lunch break. Allura beats them up again. Individual training. Dinner that slowly gets less awkward.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

Except her and Pidge had the added bonus of Lion training too. Which was cool cause she got to hang out with Azura, but less cool because Allura thinks training in the Lions requires the Castle shooting at them.

But they also had what was basically a free hour of just goofing off to ‘further their bonds with their Lions.’

Lance liked to play games with Azura and teach her earth songs during that time. To her unending delight, she learns that her Lion has a shameless preference for songs with the color blue in it.

***

“And what did you learn from that?” Allura asks, from where she stands above Lance who’s sprawled on her back for the thousandth time.

“That you fight dirty and can mop the floor with me?”

Allura narrows her eyes. “Do you think the Galra will go easy on you? You need to learn how to use anything to your advantage. There is no ‘fighting dirty’ in war.”

“Okay but, how does you beating me into the ground teach me anything?”

“You need to learn to predict my movements and mimic them. If I’m fighting dirty, then you should too.”

Lance purses her lips. She knows how to fight, but it’s all honorable stuff. Garrison hand to hand. It leaves an almost sour taste in her mouth, but Lance understands. Any advantage she can grab she will.

She’s in a war now. She doesn’t have the luxury to be soft.

She needs to _adapt._

“Okay,” she stands back up. Arms aching and chest bruised but still standing. She moves her feet into a ready position and then before Allura can mirror her she strikes out.

She still ends up on the floor but when Lance looks up at Allura after the round, she can swear there’s an approving smile on her face.

***

“You know,” Lance says into the quiet settled between them. “I never did get to ask what you named the Green Lion.”

Her and Pidge are in the hangar, Lance spread out on her back and Pidge fiddling with something in front of her. A device is taken apart and put back together before her eyes while Pidge’s laptop spits code at her.

Pidge doesn’t even look up from what she’s doing. “Digit.”

For a second Lance just stares at her.

Then she starts laughing.

She doesn’t stop until Digit’s growls become too loud to ignore.

***

It’s the end of their third training day from hell when Allura tells them they’re ready. She informs them they have until midday tomorrow to rest and recuperate and then hands them some sort of Altean medicine cream that works _wonders_ on her sore muscles and bruised skin.

Lance tries relaxing but she can’t help worrying.

She sits in a bath and can’t seem to turn off her mind, a problem she’s had since she was a child. The way her mind raced from topic to topic, always stopping on the worst-case scenarios, always over-analyzing a situation. Can’t stop going over anything that could go wrong. Planning and replanning.

Her and Pidge are comfortable in their Lions but not in each other. They move together well enough and she knows time will make them smoother, but it still picks at Lance. There’s nothing she can do about it but still, she worries.

She goes to bed with it still turning over and over in her mind.

***

Lance white-knuckles the controls as she weaves between enemy fighters. She spins and shoots and slams herself into them, Pidge keeping an eye out at her six. They work in tandem as they down fighter after fighter, not quite in sync, but not in each other’s way.

Lance thinks their Lions have something to do with that, but she has more important things to focus on than the implications of it. Her heart isn’t hammering in her chest as she weaves between enemy fire. It’s strangely calm and quiet in a way that is _definitely_ her Lion’s doing.

It lets her more easily think, strategies and counterattacks spinning in her head where before there was only panicked screaming. It doesn’t stop the curl of unease from rising in her chest, but she viciously shoves it down. She doesn’t have time for it, not when a second of lost focus could mean her getting knocked from the sky.

Shiro yells from behind her, telling her to move here and feint there. Barking orders from behind her and trying to guide her through turns. She knows he’s trying to help but it’s not working as well as he thinks it does. Especially when his orders contradict Azura’s instincts to move.

She has a second to spare a thought of sympathy for Pidge who must have it ten times harder with Keith as her back-seat pilot.

Then Lance actually thinks about it and her pity lies with Keith instead. Pidge would chew him up and spit him out if he pushed her far enough. If one of them doesn’t come out of that experience alive it certainly won’t be _Pidge_.

Galra fighter drones swarm Pidge and Lance flies over to help. Slashing and crushing them into the dirt. But it’s like when one goes down and two more take its place. It’s insane.

A resounding _boom_ comes from behind her, the tumbling of rocks and aftershocks startling her into inaction. A galra fighter had gotten past her. Lance _panics._

She whirls around just in time to see the cave collapse in on itself.

The cave she dropped Hunk into only a minute ago.

Her panic explodes into full-blown _terror_ at the sight of the collapsing rock _._ A scream tears itself from her throat before she can stop it.

_“NO!”_

Shiro is yelling behind her to stay _focused_ but Lance is already rushing forward. She leaves Pidge alone on the battlefield.

Dangerous. Idiotic. _What are you doing?_

Lance isn’t thinking right. She doesn’t run through the consequences of her actions because her mind has screeched to a halt, spinning around and around one thought only.

 _Hunk_ was down there. God no, please not him, nononono _nononoNO!_

She can’t _lose_ him. _Not him!_

Not when he’s her rock, her best friend, her only link _home._ Not when she’s the reason he’s even _here_.

She won’t survive without him.

_Can’t._

Please no.

Galra forgotten, the hellfire sounds of the battlefield nothing more than cotton in her ears, she _screams._ Sobs crawl up her throat like bile as the image of her best friend crushed to death on an alien planet flashes in front of her eyes.

Azura forces her snout into a part of the collapsed opening and _roars._ It’s filled with Lance’s desperation and fear and everything else clamoring for attention in her too-full chest. She doesn’t even care that Shiro is watching her shake apart at the seams because it won’t matter if _Hunk isn’t alive, she won’t be long after him._

For a second there is silence.

For a second the universe holds its breath and Lance is suffocating.

For a second all she can hear is Keith swearing into the comms and Pidge screaming.

It’s the longest second of her life.

Then, there is an answering roar. Deep and rumbling like an earthquake and as _powerful_ as Azura is fluid.

The bond snaps into place, knocking the remaining air from Lance’s lungs and exploding inside of her. The anchor point isn’t just in her chest but so deeply intertwined with her very being she can feel the bond _everywhere._ It is the bedrock of her being, the foundation of which she is created and that which hold her solid.

At that moment she is golden in every broken crevice and chipped edge. Warm and whole and happier than she’s ever been. She is warm ovens and roots buried deep into the earth and summer days spent rolling down hills.

Lance lets out a shuddering breath that sounds like a cross between a sob and a laugh. It’s an insane sound but Shiro is too much of a gentleman to say anything about it. At least not right then.

At the edge of her awareness, she can hear Pidge swearing colorfully. Her bond no doubt slotting into place as well. She instinctively knows it’s nothing compared to the newest addition in her chest.

The Yellow Lion explodes from the earth in front of her in a blaze of glory. She is giant and shimmers like spun gold in the sunlight. All thick armour and protective ferocity as she lands upon the shaking ground. Her steps thunder around her as if the planet itself reacts to her very presence.

It’s as terrifying as it is awe inspiring.

Despite her size and ferocity, or maybe because of it, Hunk moves clumsily in his Lion. tripping and stumbling across the battlefield while still managing to trample anything in his path.

Lance can only imagine the damage they’ll cause when they work can work in sync. All that brute strength would be devastating.

The three make their way hurriedly back to the castle, the galra fighters don’t stand a chance against them but every second they’re there is another chance for a warship to show up.

So, they run.

Lance doesn’t have a problem with this. Keith on the other hand…

Lance turns off her comms to block him out.

The Lions split up to dock in their respective hangars and it doesn’t matter that she can feel Hunk’s heartbeat like it’s nestled next to her own in her chest, her mind panic the second she loses sight of him again.

She knows logically he’s fine. Of course, she does.

But her heart is not logical.

The second Azura touches down, Lance is sprinting from the cockpit her Lion having already lowered the platform for her. Shiro calls after her. She’s halfway across the hangar before she even realized he was yelling.

The doors open with a slam as she storms into Yellow’s hangar. She doesn’t slow down when she sees Hunk staring up at his Lion; doesn’t stop. If anything, she goes _faster_.

There’s not a doubt in her mind that he’ll catch her.

He doesn’t hesitate and he doesn’t disappoint. Just turns around when he hears her coming and opens his arms like she knew he would.

Her feet are off the ground in the next moment, his arms around her as she clutches on to him like a drowning man. They spin in circles to alleviate her inertia but even when they stop, he doesn’t set her down. He’s wrapped around her so tightly and she can feel his heart hammering through his breastplate, or maybe that’s his echo in her chest.

She babbles at him in Spanish, the words tumbling from her waves. _“I was so fucking worried. The explosion went off and I was so_ terrified _you-”_ Lance can’t even say it. The word catches in her throat, choking her. _“You’re not allowed to leave me. Not like that._ Please, _not like that. I can’t-_ I won’t. _I swear to god I_ won’t.”

His hands never stop their soothing circles up and down her back. It’s comforting even through the armour. “I’m sorry,” he tells her softly. And he is, she knows he is because she can feel his guilt in her chest along with his _own_ fear. It’s faint but if she can feel it, she knows he can too. He can feel the terror squeezing her heart.

War is dangerous. War has casualties. She knows this.

But knowing it and seeing it almost happen to her _best friend_ are two _completely_ different things.

“Lance I’m _so_ sorry. I’m not- I’ll _never_ leave you okay? I _promise.”_

He can’t promise that. They both know it.

She giggles hysterically into his neck and thanks every deity she knows that no one else is in the hangar with them. She _hates_ when people see her cry. Hates when other people see her so _vulnerable_.

Instead of calling him out on his lie, she burrows further into his arms, willing herself to believe it. They don’t move for five minutes. Hunk still doesn’t let her feet touch the ground. At some point, he’d started swaying back and forth. It reminds her of the sea, no doubt his intention.

It made her _ache_ for home, but it was also comforting. Familiar where so many things aren’t.

Eventually, she’s calmed down enough for them to separate.

She takes a deep, steadying breath before giving Hunk a wide smile. It’s wooden and stiff but not entirely fake, just wider than she would’ve naturally worn it.

It’s fake enough for Hunk to frown at her for it but she ignores his look. He’s disapproved of her coping habits for years, they aren’t going to change now.

“So…” she starts, not-so-subtly changing the subject. “What’s this golden beauty going to be called?”

Hunk sighs at her poor excuse for a misdirection but says nothing. His head cocks to the side in a way that tells her that his Lion is talking to him and she waits patiently for him to speak.

“Why don’t you name her?”

Lance focuses back on him, surprised. “Me?”

“Yeah,” he states like it’s obvious. “You had me name Azura. I want you to name her.”

The pair look up at the giant Lion before them, her liquid gold eyes staring back steadily. Her gaze leaves Lance feeling warm and protected, surrounded on all sides. It’s comforting. _She’s_ comforting. Even if Lance isn’t her paladin.

“I like Keone.”

_The sands. Hawaii. Home._

“Keone it is.”

Lance’s grin gets just a little more genuine as she leans into Hunk’s side. Keone’s tail flicks back and forth slowly, the only outwards reaction Lance can see to her new name.

She steps forward to place a hand on her large paw, the entire thing coming up to her chest. “You better keep him safe okay? You seem like you’ll be the toughest of us so I’m counting on you. Hunk was mine first and I…” she pauses to look back at him. “I care about him a lot. So, you better make sure he comes back. Always.”

Keone nods her giant head, the massive chunk of living metal dipping towards her in a sign of acceptance. Lance smiles up at her, patting the claw her hand was on.

“Thank you.”

When she looks back at Hunk, he has an almost glassy look in his eye. “Yeah, she is,” he whispers so quietly she almost doesn’t hear.

Lance shoves him gently in embarrassment, nodding her head to the door. “Come on. Better go see what the rest of the team is up to. I’m surprised they haven’t stormed in here yet,” Lance jokes. “I kinda ran off like hell was nipping at my heels and Coran seems the nosey type.”

Hunk shakes his head at her, grabbing her hand and leading them through the doors. He doesn’t let go for hours and Lance doesn’t ask him to.

When they separate to sleep, her hand feels cold, but her chest still beats with the echo of his heart. It makes falling asleep easier than it had ever been.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading!  
> I'm always happy to receive comments and kudos.  
> Tell me your most and least favorite parts of Voltron! What do you think could have gone better? What do you wish the show had done?
> 
> TRANSLATIONS:  
> "You have got to be kidding me." -Lance, Spanish


	5. (not quite) First Contact

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which aliens are met and not all of them are as nice as you'd think

Katie hadn’t been able to sleep after the mission for the Yellow Lion. She’d been too keyed up, too awake to fall asleep. Her mind too active to leave her be.

So, she found herself things to do. Projects to start. Stuff to build. Altean mechanisms to learn.

It wasn’t until Lance found her in the green hangar surrounded by half a dozen bits of machinery she realized how late--or early--it really was. Lance had spent five minutes lecturing her on taking care of herself before realizing she wasn’t listening and giving up. After huffing for a little while longer, the other girl sat down next to her but still out of the way and started humming.

Katie mostly ignored her presence but couldn’t deny that it was… nice to have someone there. Someone to remind her she wasn’t alone in this too big castle. She did briefly wonder why Lance was up so early, but eventually discarded the thought, deciding it wasn’t her business and she didn’t care enough to snoop at the moment.

It was then that the thought came to her, in that moment of peace between one hectic moment and the next. It makes Katie shoot up from her hunched position like she’d been electrocuted.

Lance yelps at the sudden movement. “What? What is it?” she asks half worried and half annoyed as if she isn’t sure which one the situation requires yet.

Katie takes a second too long to answer and Lance goes soft with worry, leaning toward Katie like she’s some sort of spooked animal. “Pidge?”

_“What if there were prisoners on the ship?”_

The words tumble from her breathless lungs and she watches as Lance makes the same connection she did. Watches her follow the same line of thought and she sees the blood drain from her face. It leaves her looking more like brittle wood than her normal rich earthy tones.

Lance stands as fast as she can, her hands clenching and unclenching at her sides. “We need to talk to Shiro.”

Katie doesn’t argue for once, just sprints after her Lance as fast as she can, the device in her hands dropping to the hangar floor below.

***

After running to Shiro’s room to find it empty, panicking, asking CORINN where he was and running all the way back across the Castle, the pair find him sitting in front of the giant doors leading to Black’s hangar.

It looks like he’s talking to the Black Lion through the heavy metal. If Katie were in her right mind, she might’ve noticed the longing, pained expression on his face as he pressed his hand to the door. She might’ve seen the way he waited for an answer that didn’t come, perhaps _couldn’t_ come.

She might’ve felt bad.

Digit is… more important than Katie expected her to be. Essential in so many ways Katie had never known even existed, a piece of her she never knew she was missing until she had it right in front of her and it clicked into its spot and made her finally run _correctly._

If that piece of her was behind a closed door, just beyond her reach, well… Katie thinks she’d go mad.

A terrifying thought to have about an alien warship she knows next to nothing about, but true, nonetheless.

“Shiro!” Lance calls breathlessly.

The man in question jumps at his name, turning around quickly as if embarrassed, his mouth already open to explain away his behavior. The words never reach his lips because, at the sight of them, Shiro’s face goes pinched, mouth twisting into a worried frown.

He quickly scans them for injuries, striding towards them hurriedly. When he gets close enough to touch them, his arms twitch toward them in some aborted movement. They hang awkwardly at his sides like he wants to comfort them but doesn’t know how to.

He crosses his arms.

“What’s wrong?”

The floodgates open. The words spill out of her like acid, making her feel sicker and sicker with each passing syllable.

Shiro’s expression goes haunted as she speaks, his eyes far away and hands tightening around his arms. Katie is just starting to think telling him was a bad idea when Shiro schools his features once again. The terrified expression wiped clean from his face like it was never there.

He barks at them to move out, armour already crawling across his skin and Katie doesn’t challenge him. She doesn’t challenge him, but she remembers the look on his face, and it settles into her stomach uneasily.

She and Lance share a look before following him.

***

The ship yawns above them in a mound of twisted metal half-buried in a crater. The bones of the ship were intact from what Katie can see, but the hull scorched and torn apart like wet paper.

Smoke rises from the back of the ship and Katie can’t help but think of screams and roaring flames before she violently pushes the thoughts away.

Neither Shiro nor Lance make any move to enter the metal prison before them and Katie grows impatient. With a huff she pushes off the ground, her jetpack jettisoning her through a ragged hole in the hull. She staggers when she lands, the tilt of the ship throwing her off balance for a moment.

Outside, she can hear Lance and Shiro call after her, followed by the sound of two jetpacks firing up.

“Pidge!” Lance squawks at her when she lands.

Katie just grins at her, flicking on her wrist light for the dimness inside the ship. “You took too long. Now, come on.” she marches off in a random direction. The other two follow her for lack of any better ideas.

They walk around aimlessly, passing room after room. Lance keeps up a steady chatter which would normally be annoying as all hell but is oddly comforting in the menacing hallways. It’s not until they pass through what might be an arena--what with the large clearing and high stadium seats--that something happens.

Shiro goes still the second he sees it. The kind of still where Katie isn’t even sure he’s breathing and his eyes are wide, the terror hiding there on display for Lance and Katie to see plain as day.

Katie startles at the look on his face, at the unending terror written there. It scares her that someone like Shiro, someone her father praised endlessly for his courage and bravery, could be taken down by the sight of a _room._ The thought strikes dissonance in her mind, the feeling of _wrong_ permeating the whole scene.

“Shiro,” Lance says slowly. Soothingly.

Katie turns to her so quickly she thinks her neck might’ve cracked.

Rather than finding the other girl as upset or scared as she feels, Lance looks calm. Concerned and sad, almost like she… expected this, but still calm. Her hands are raised placatingly in front of her and her body is loose and relaxed.

“Shiro,” she repeats again. Shiro twitches but otherwise doesn’t acknowledge her. She approaches him slowly and starts talking to him. Still in that soothing tone of voice. “It’s not real. Whatever you’re seeing or hearing is _not real,_ okay? I’m real. Pidge is real. Shiro, you can touch us, feel us.” she slowly drags her hand up and down her arm as if to prove her point. “Listen to my voice, you can hear it, it’s real. You’re _safe,_ Shiro.”

Slowly, _achingly_ slow, Lance reaches out to touch him. Her hand hovers above his skin, waiting for any sign that she shouldn’t touch. Shouldn’t move closer.

He stays still, almost frighteningly so, as Lance hesitantly moves her hand to his bicep--the galra one, Katie notes distantly.

It’s the wrong thing to do.

The second Lance touches him he _freaks._ The arm she’d barely grazed glows an ominous purple and sizzles with heat--did Shiro even know it could _do that_ because he’s been holding out--and he swings his hand at Lance wildly.

The blue paladin back-pedals fast enough to avoid being cut in half, but only barely. Katie slaps a hand over her mouth to keep herself from shouting out and making it worse.

Shiro doesn’t chase after Lance, but he’s in a defensive position, glowing hand held out threateningly and breath coming in short bursts. His eyes are a little too wild for Katie’s taste.

“Okay!” Lance’s voice raises, slightly panicked before she gets it back under control. _“Okay,_ no touching. No touching. That’s okay, we’ll try again. Take two, no touching this time.”

She’s standing back now, not making a move to get closer. “Shiro, it’s _me._ Lance. You’re with friends. Friends. Remember, Keith?” Shiro pauses at that, blinking hard and Lance grabs onto the reaction with both hands. “Keith is back on the ship, Shiro. You know Keith. Keith is great, he’s fine, he’s _real_. And so is Pidge. She’s right here! Shiro, look at her. Safe and sound just like you, okay?”

Shiro swivels to look at her and Katie tries to imitate Lance, all loose and calmness. She doesn’t think she succeeds very well.

He blinks hard once more and sucks in a deep breath. The last bit of tension seems to drain out of him and his eyes clear for a second before confusion takes over and after that horror and guilt.

“Shiro?” Lance asks, voice still soothing.

His voice is thick and raspy when he speaks. “Did I-? Are you okay?”

Lance makes a sound almost like a scoff but fonder and more incredulous. “I should be asking you that.” She pauses, biting her lip as if debating on whether to say something or not. “Dude, I… That’s one of the worst episodes I’ve seen, not that I’m an expert or anything, but… Shiro? Are you- do you want to talk about it?”

Shiro stares at her with something Katie can’t quite decipher. Lance must see something that Katie doesn’t and starts babbling again.

“Later! Not now, but just… later? It’s supposed to help. To talk about it. It doesn’t even have to be me! But maybe it’d be easier with someone you don’t know as well? I’m not sure. I never looked into that, but I just want you to know that if you _want_ to talk it’s okay for you too. Just because you’re our leader doesn’t mean you’re invincible, okay? Okay. That’s just… yeah. Options.”

She fades off into mumbling, obviously embarrassed. She’s shuffling her feet and her hands are twitching around her, but she stares at him earnest. Katie would find it funny if the situation wasn’t so serious. If they weren’t talking about the apparent _PTSD_ of their leader.

Katie actually feels idiotic for not thinking about that possibility before now. He was imprisoned for a _year_ by genocidal aliens. Of _course,_ he has PTSD, she’s so stupid.

Shiro on the other hand just nods at her, a small frown on his face. “I’ll think about it.”

Katie highly fucking doubts that Shiro will do any of that without being forced to. Even after knowing him for only a few days, she knows that he’s not the type to ask for help.

 Lance purses her lips, apparently on the same page as Katie, but decides not to call him out on it either. It’s a conversation for another time. When he’s not so pale and they aren’t in the belly of a warship that set him off in the first place.

***

A floating drone the size of Katie’s head lays discarded and damaged on the ground in the middle of one of the hallways. It tries flickering to life as they come around the corner. Ominous buzzing noises coming from the mangled pyramid of metal.

Katie falls in love with it the second she sees it, picking it up and cradling it to her chest like others would a baby or a particularly cute stray puppy.

Within seconds of opening the panel on its side, she has the thing sputtering back to life, glowing a welcoming green and beeping happily.

“I’m gonna call you, Rover,” she tells him.

Lance rolls her eyes as she holds back a snort and Shiro smiles fondly at her, ruffling her hair as he continues off down the hallway.

Rover beeps obediently as she tells him to follow along and their group of three becomes four.

***

They find the prisoners somewhere deep within the warship, far from the hull or exits. Which is good because it means her or Pidge didn’t slash through their room, but bad because they could've easily suffocated from smoke or been crushed from the impact with the surface.

Neither of which are good options.

So, when they find the prisoners all mostly conscious and bearing no major injuries, Lance thanks any gods listening because she wouldn’t be able to bear the weight of those deaths. She’s still reeling from the fact that she _put these people in danger_. It doesn’t matter that they’re all okay _now_.

The guilt gnaws at her like a parasite.

There are quite a few who will need a stay in the healing pods due to malnourishment or infections, but seemingly there are no injuries caused by them other than bruises from being thrown around in the crash.

They were incredibly lucky no one was hurt by their thoughtlessness.

Lance can’t help but think they won’t be so fortunate next time.

***

On Earth, there’s a comfy little diner on the corner of a street. Inside, there sits three girls all gathered in a corner booth, each of them sharing the same grim expression and ocean blue eyes.

The eldest, with her long, intricately done chestnut hair and ruby lips, speaks first. “Well. I’m glad at least _we’re_ on the same page about this,” her perfectly manicured hands raising the coffee cup to her lips. “I was worried I was the only one who saw it.”

The second eldest, dressed in flannels and with short hair the color of charcoal, scoffs. Her voice is rough, and her expression soured. “Of course, we noticed. Though it’s not like it _matters._ No one believes us. Not even Mamá and Papi.”

“They just don’t want to hope for something that might not exist,” the youngest points out, running a hand through vibrant purple hair.

“So, they’d willingly be blind?” she hisses.

“That’s not what she meant, Sabre,” the eldest scolds.

“Why aren’t you two _angrier?”_

The eldest’s eyes flash as the cup she held slams onto the table. “Do you think I am not _angry?_ Dear sister, I am _furious,”_ she hisses, voice sharp. “Lance is _gone,_ and the Garrison has the audacity to try and _lie_ to us about it. We don’t know where she is or if she’s even _alive,_ so forgive me for believing that my energy would be better spent finding the _imbécil_ that did this instead of wasting it on _useless_ displays of aggression.”

Sabre growls at her sister.

“We’ll get nowhere fighting with each other.”

“We’ll get nowhere either way,” Sabre snaps. “The Garrison is a military organization, Mace. They’re hardly going to care about anything we say about them.”

“I never said anything about calling in a formal complaint.”

“What? Are we supposed to infiltrate their ranks? We aren’t spies.”

“But we do have connections.”

The other two stare at their younger sister in surprise. “You aren’t seriously suggesting…?”

Mace blinks, “If it comes to that, _por supuesto_ \--this is _Lance_ , we’re talking about here. But that's not what I was referring to. I meant Francisca’s connections at the agency and the friends I have inside the Garrison.”

Francisca raises a perfectly manicured eyebrow. “And what if they refuse to talk?”

“Then I suppose being a military nurse could be fun.”

Her sisters understand exactly what she means without her needing to explain.

“Mace, you _can’t.”_

Mace’s sharp eyes pin her older sister down with the force of her stare. “I’ll do anything to find out what happened to our sister, Francisca.”

Francisca sighs, flicking a chestnut lock of hair away from her face. “I suppose I can contact some friends, call in some favors.” Her nail taps the table in delicate clicks as she thinks.

Sabre voices the thought before she gets the chance. “What about our… _shared_ connection? I can understand not wanting them involved but surely, they’d want to help? Not to mention they’d _be_ a lot of help.”

“Oh, I’m perfectly aware of how _helpful_ they’d be,” Mace says with distaste. “But I’d rather they not muddy waters that don’t need muddying. And with Lance… I can’t completely predict how they’d react.”

Francisca nods, nails clicking. _“Familia por encima de todo,”_ she recites before sighing harshly. “Involving them could only end in tears and blood. I’d rather not have to clean up whatever mess they create.”

“Oh, like you handle their messes anyway.”

Francisca sticks out her tongue.

From there, the conversation turned to discussing possible unknowing allies and clues, contingency plans and ideas. In the end, the three part ways comforted by the fact that they weren’t alone and actually had a _plan._

Now, it was merely up to waiting to see if anything would come of their searching.

***

With three working Lions, Allura seems to relax the slightest amount. She’s still eager to find the Red Lion and when she’s not helping Coran fix the castle, she’s meditating in the Bridge, hoping to catch even an _inkling_ of its energy source.

She even turns training over to Coran and CORINN for the time being so she can focus on it. Which means that while they still have the workout from hell, most of their day is now devoted to battle tactics taught by Coran. On the first day he explains that while the Alteans were diplomats, they were also careful strategists. The royal family kept very detailed accounts of other civilizations fighting styles, techniques, common war strategies and anything else that might come in handy.

Even those they considered allies would have files upon files of information on them.

(Talk about paranoid.)

They used all this information to come up with counter strategies. The galra must have evolved their fighting styles in ten thousand years, but it’s a good basis for what they’re doing now at least.

Coran goes on and on about planning and tactics and it’s Lance’s favorite time of day, honestly. She’d loved this class back at the Garrison and Coran is much more animated about the different types of striking units than her previous professor had been.

Other than battle tactics, they also learn about galra hierarchy and how their society functioned ten thousand years ago. Seeing as Zarkon is still in charge, Coran and Allura believe it probably had minimal changes in that area.

During their workouts, CORINN has them run team drills and scenarios with the gladiator. They do it so much, she almost feels like they’re a functioning unit, communicating and working together solidly, if not effortlessly. At least when she and Keith aren’t screaming at each other or when Pidge throws a hissy fit.

Speaking of Pidge, she finally wore down Coran into letting her help fix the castle when she’s not camped out in front of the healing pods. After he agrees, the estimated repair time drops to a third of what it once was. Coran even seems impressed at how easily she adapts to such advanced technology.

Lance is not impressed because being impressed means there had to be a level of surprise involved.

Lance is not surprised.

It’s _Pidge_.

She’s not sure what they were expecting.

While their third functioning paladin is off programming the alien equivalent of a Roomba, she’s teaching Hunk how to actually _fly a plane._ Considering he had no formal training in most mid-level aerial maneuvers and hasn’t actually flown anything since freshman year at the Garrison, Lance thought it was better for everyone involved if she gave him a refresher course.

Allura agreed after she explained the whole thing to her.

Lance is also pretty sure that she looked mildly horrified but that’s neither here nor there.

She’s reminding him on the differences between a barrel roll and an aileron roll, complete with fun examples and participation, when she notices the commotion at the castle’s courtyard.

She cuts herself off mid-sentence to the confusion of Hunk--he was already confused. Bless his soul, her best friend is a genius rivaled only by Pidge but if she starts rambling about flying maneuvers then he is _lost_ \--and flies off towards the small crowd without a backward glance.

He grumbles about ‘impulsivity’ and ‘the need for communication’ through the comms but still lands a second behind her. Lance thinks that alone undermines his entire argument, so she just ignores him.

Lance is halfway down the catwalk when she stops in surprise.

Now, she’s not sure what she’d been expecting to find when she landed, but she knows it was not a small flock of what is probably alien warriors, bowing to her, Hunk, and Allura.

They’re bowed so low their foreheads are one the ground, arms placed in front of them and reverently placed on bladed weapons like they’re offering them up as gifts.

“Great Lion Goddess and her mighty warriors!” The one in front greets, voice revenant and head still bowed. “We are our bravest of warriors. I am known as Klaizap, these are Unliz, Sunspike, Karith, and Tigot.”

Lance blinks.

Beside her, Hunk places his face in his hands, either out of embarrassment or an attempt to fend off future embarrassment she doesn’t know.

She nudges him excitedly. “Hunk. Hunk did you hear that? We’re _mighty warriors._ Hunk, they’re worshipping us, can you see that?”

Hunk just groans at her.

She flips her hair over her shoulder and stands taller, trying to mimic Allura’s regal aura. “It’s about _time_ someone around here appreciates me. Rise, oh, brave warriors. The honor is all mine, I _assure_ you.”

All five of their heads snap up, but they stay kneeling.

Now that she can see their faces, Lance has to suppress the desire to coo at them.

They all look so round and soft, with their ram-like horns and thick, little tails. None of them even come up as high as her hip.

Lance beams at them which sets the two in the back off in little chirping squeals.

“You are beautiful,” the one she thinks is Tigot breaths. “The legends do not do you justice, Warrior of Sea. Nor you, O Goddess.”

Allura blushes but Lance just smiles wider. “And you’re quite the handsome devil yourself.” She winks and she thinks the aliens blush? It’s hard to tell.

Alien anatomy is already giving her a headache.

Keith scoffs from where he’s stood behind Allura. “Of course, you’d enjoy this. You always have to be the center of attention, don’t you?”

Lance’s expression sours but she refuses to turn around and give him the satisfaction. Except she’s never been good at ignoring him and so she already has her mouth open to snap back when the pinker one next to Klaizap jumps to her feet.

Sunspike, she thinks her name was.

“How dare you speak to a faithful warrior so disrespectfully! She guards our precious Goddess, a most sacred duty! You should be _ashamed.”_ The little warrior ends her rant by baring her, surprisingly sharp, teeth at Keith, the rest of the warriors following suit.

She turns around to see Keith’s reaction and laughs.

He looks a mix of flabbergasted, scolded and annoyed. His face twitching like he doesn’t know how to deal with what just happened.

Serves him right.

Lance kneels before Sunspike and grabs her little paw gently. “Thank you, Sunspike. You are too kind.” She raises the appendage to her lips and places a gentle kiss there.

Sunspike squeals loud enough to jolt Lance upright.

“I have been blessed!” she cries, hopping up and down frantically, tail thumping the ground over and over again. The other warriors are staring at her in a mix of respect and longing, chittering at her excitedly.

In an instant, she surrounded by the other four arusian warriors. They all ask--beg really--for her blessing as well. Big, puppy dog like eyes and wide, hopeful smiles leaving her defenseless to their demands.

She presses kisses onto the tops of their heads and watches as they each have miniature breakdowns.

“Sugar cube!” she calls, half turning to look at her best friend who’s so far been looking at her half amused, and half horrified. “Come bless them with me!”

For a second, she thinks he’ll say no out of embarrassment. But then she gives him her own puppy dog eyes and in the next moment, he’s crouched at her right. Lance grabs his hand and squeezes gratefully.

Hunk kisses each of their heads as well, and Lance watches as each of them vibrates so hard she’s worried they’ll combust.

She leans in to whisper in his ear, quiet enough that they can’t hear. “I think we broke them.”

Hunk sputters out a surprised laugh.

Eventually, Allura clears her throat, signaling that the fun is over. Lance sends a wink her way when she sees the vaguely disapproving look on her face.

“Please, bravest warriors, take us to your village so we may thank you properly.”

“Of course, Goddess. We have prepared festivities in your honor. We hope you will be most pleased.” Klaizap says excitedly. With a bow, all five of them bounce their way off in the direction of their village.

“Come on, Hunk! There’s gonna be a party!” She takes off after the aliens who are deceptively fast. “Race ya!”

“Oh, come on! We both know you’re faster than me. Do I have to?” Hunk calls after her and Lance twists around to run backward. Hunk is lightly jogging after her while Keith and Allura follow at a more sedate pace.

She pouts back at him for not playing along but then gets a brilliant idea.

With a wicked grin, she raises her hands to her mouth and shouts, “Keith! Bet you I can make it to the village faster than you can!”

Without looking back to see if he took the bait--he did, if there’s one thing she knows about Keith it’s that he can’t back down from a challenge--Lance shoots off for the far hill, feet pounding on the ground.

She hears the swearing as he shoots off after her, his footsteps eating up the distance between them. He’s fast she’ll give him that.

But not fast enough.

She makes it to the village center, two seconds before he does, lightly panting and with her arms raised in taunting victory.

Keith glares at her. “You cheated.”

Lance pats his cheek with faked sympathy and coos at him mockingly.

He swats her hand away.

She just continues gloating. She’s learned after a week of interacting with him, that he hates when she’s smug more than when she’s angry. It’s information she plans to endlessly exploit.

Lance takes in the arusian village, all small and cozy. Tiny houses sturdily built and with a large gathering clearing where she and Keith were standing. The area was decorated with streamers and crowded with other arusians who stare at her as she stands there. She waves at them brightly, blowing a few kisses into the crowd while Keith grumbled about her inflated ego.

She flips him off.

An arusian much bigger than the others and wearing more formal clothing hurries over to her. He quickly bows before her.

“Great warriors, I, King of the Arusians, formally beg your forgiveness. Please have mercy on us and accept our traditional Dance of Apology as atonement for our wrongdoings.” He steps sideways to reveal a smaller arusian dressed plainer but in what is still obviously supposed to be formal wear.

The small arusian strikes a pose.

Lance wonders how she’s gotten to the point in her life where this is not the weirdest shit she has ever seen.

“Commence Dance of Apology! Hoorah!”

Music with a heavy tribal drum beat plays and the small arusian begins dancing. Bobbing and weaving her hands in odd ways. Her face is focused, and Lance is transfixed with the dance. She even starts swaying to the beat.

Allura arrives in the middle of it with Hunk trailing behind. She looks bewildered at what’s happening and asks Lance for clarification.

“They’re apologizing for their sins.”

“What?” Allura asks startled before looking at the arusians distressed. “No, please. You need not apologize to us.”

“Moontow, halt!” the dancing arusian stops immediately, balancing on one foot. She’s straining to keep her balance and Lance feels for her. Her ballet teacher would do the same thing all the goddamn time. “The Goddess has refused the apology. Start the sacrificial fire.” Behind him, a bonfire blazes into existence. “We must throw ourselves in.”

“I’m sorry, what?” Hunk panics.

Allura waves her hands frantically. “No! No sacrifices!”

“Yeah, no, none of that. No death today, please.” Lance adds, heart in her throat.

“So… we may commence with the dance?”

Lance and Hunk nod vigorously as Allura says, “That would be… a _better_ alternative.”

After the music starts up again and Moontow continues dancing, Lance subtly elbows the princess. It does little more than earn her a glare, but it makes her feel better. “You had to say something?” she hisses.

Allura raises her chin in the air, “I didn’t think they’d try to throw themselves in a _fire.”_

Lance hums unhappily at the princess but says nothing in response to that. She adds ‘how to leave well enough alone’ to her mental list of Things to Teach the Weird-Ass Alteans.

***

After Allura explains that they aren’t actually, you know, _divine beings_ or anything, the party starts with a bang.

Seriously.

The arusians set off their version of party poppers which are actually closer to fireworks except way closer to the ground and bigger. It’s mildly concerning.

But after that, Lance finds she’s enjoying herself. The arusians really know how to party and some of their dances are really fun. She has a group around her trying to teach her the steps which are mildly hard considering anatomy differences, but she does her best.

Hunk is somewhere talking the ear off the town cook or baker and asking how he uses the spices and what they're called and a million other questions. Lance gives him five minutes before he scares off the poor unassuming shmuck with his curiosity.

Keith is somewhere probably talking about knives or standing in a corner brooding and Lance can see Allura being diplomatic and princessly like two days ago she wasn’t handing their asses to them and screaming about it.

She’s just starting to think how the other three are really missing out when the comm crackles to life, Shiro’s voice coming in crisp and commanding.

_“Team, we’ve got incoming!”_

“Shiro?” Allura asks, looking out over the village as if she could spot the threat. “Shiro, what’s happening?”

A ground-shaking _boom_ sounds through the village, causing multiple arusians and Hunk to hit the dirt. Lance whips her head around to look up at the sky.

Falling towards the planet’s surface is something big and galra, falling closer to them like some twisted meteorite.

“We need the Lions!” Keith calls at the same time Lance whistles high and sharp, separating from the group of arusians and sprinting towards the nearest clearing big enough.

She’s not sure how she knew it would work, there’s no reason to believe Azura can hear her from this distance but she comes anyway, landing lightly in front of her.

In her mind, Azura is growling, ready for battle and furious.

Lance hasn’t even full sat down in the pilot’s chair when Azura races off after the spacecraft, metal paws shaking the earth below her.

It lands with another _boom_ that almost sends Azura sprawling head over paws. Luckily, Hunk and Keone, who are far steadier than they are apparently, catch her at the last second.

They watch in horror as the spacecraft opens to reveal a metal monstrosity.

It’s a behemoth, standing three times as tall as her Lion. It’s all metal and malice and a certain intelligence in its single eye that makes Lance sick. There’s something subtly _wrong_ with it. Like some twisted, mangled _thing_ that should be dead but instead gets back up and starts walking like there’s nothing wrong.

Lance isn’t sure how she knows this, or why, but she gets the feeling that this _should not exist._

When it steps out of its container, Lance feels fear grab her heart and _squeeze._ It rakes it’s claws through her and leaves her composure in ribbons.

Her heart and the echo both start pounding like rabbits in her chest. It feels like she might burst.

Panic wells up in her as she stares at the monster that shouldn’t exist. As she gazes into the broken tattered thing that defies nature.

Azura stops growling at the thing long enough to rub against her mind soothingly. _“My paladin,”_ her voice echoes around her in the cockpit and through her head. Circuitry and magic and the ever-present sound of the ocean.

She curls around where their bond is anchored in her chest and _blooms._ Spreads out through her veins and sinks into her skin. Her voice seeps into her and calms her down, forces her to focus and relax. Her panic ebbs and flows until it is smaller, more manageable.

Lance can still feel it, but it’s strangely muted. Distant like a ship at sea. She can barely feel it over the sound of Azura’s comforting purrs. Over the rising tide. Over the need to _protect._

 _“You need not fear. We will survive. We will_ win. _We will always win.”_

Lance is no warrior.

But she’ll be _damned_ if she lets someone get hurt because she couldn’t control her fear.

The Monster twists it’s neck unnaturally to look at them.

Lance grabs onto her fear and _adapts._

The Monster raises its hand.

Azura’s calming purrs turn to fierce growls, the sound humming through Lance’s chest.

The Monster glows a sickening purple and winds its arm back to strike.

Lance _snarls._

The sound is echoed by three Lions when, together, they _leap._

***

The harsh scrape of metal on metal assaults his ears. The ringing clash sets his teeth on edge. The sounds of battle make him want to curl in a ball and never move.

But he can’t.

He’d let down too many people--put too many of them at _risk_ \--if he did.

He’d let down _Lance_ \--put _her_ at risk--if he did.

She and Pidge and Keone and the universe were counting on him to _move_. To _fight._ To _protect._

He’s terrified and not good and he’s all they have so he throws himself at the Gladiator over and over again.

He’s armoured. The tank, as Lance would say, and so he’ll take the hits while Pidge and Lance plan and scheme in the air above him.

The fear and inexperience make him slower than he should be, make him hesitate and freeze up even with Keone’s steady mountain song crooning in his ears. The warmth fills his stomach, right behind his navel, but it does little to stop the chill crawling up his spine.

 _“Hunk! On your left!”_ Lance screams and he turns just in time to see the weaponized orb fly right at him.

It sends him careening into a cliff face, the hit leaving him winded and dazed.

He gets up even though his vision is still fuzzy because he may have never been in a fight before now, but even he knows staying still is a death sentence. Groaning, he pushes himself up, the sound of Lance yelling in his ear keeping him grounded even if he’s not paying attention to the words.

 _"Goddammit!”_ Pidge screeches through the comms when the monster bats her away again. _“I can’t even get close to it! Our blasters do_ nothing.” Her Lion curls it’s claws into the dirt, growling at the beast as if she can take it down through intimidation alone.

It’s a strategy that would work on Hunk at least. He’s not too hopeful about the monster though.

Lance dances through the air, trying to keep its attention on her while keeping her distance and dodging the orb that follows her relentlessly.

 _“Blasting doesn’t work. Have we tried slashing?”_ Her lion waves her tail for emphasis, the blades glinting in the sunlight.

Hunk knocks her out of the way a second before she would’ve taken a hit to the face. It hits his flank instead and unbalances him enough to send them into a helpless tangle of limbs. Lance swears colorfully as they try extracting themselves.

Pidge launches herself at the beast in order to give them time, but it sends her away with a particularly vicious sweep of its hand. It advances on them and Hunk struggles faster.

They don’t untangle in time.

The monster grabs Hunk by the scruff and throws him clean across the field. He hears Lance scream when the monster ax stomps her into the dirt. Hunk screams with her, a phantom pain blossoming along his side.

Pidge comes from nowhere, bowling into the creature and snapping her jaws around its throat. He can hear the _crunch_ of metal from where he is, and Lance takes the opportunity to limp off to safety. He sees the twitch that goes through the gladiator before it throws Pidge off.

Its throat is horribly mangled and its head lolls at an odd angle that makes Hunk sick, but it still advances on them relentlessly.

Hunk feels fear crawl up his throat, choking him from the inside.

_“Guys!”_

Shiro’s strong voice breaks through the panic and he can’t help but listen.

_“Pidge damaged it. It’s not impossible to beat! Its weak point is the orb. It needs to charge every three hits! That’s when you strike!”_

Hunk doesn’t question how Shiro knows that. He’s their leader, right? Of course, he knows how to beat the Big Bad.

Him and Lance tag team until Pidge gets back up. She’s not looking good, one more hit will probably send her to the ground and keep her there.

The three of them count the shots.

The first one Lance barely dodges, the electricity singing her tail.

The second blast hits Hunk in the chest. He curls his claws into the dirt and stands firm. It pushes him back, but he doesn’t go down.

The third knocks Pidge from the sky and as he feared, she doesn’t get back up.

He debates on whether he should go after her or not until Lance launches herself at the beast and Hunk has to run in and make sure she doesn’t get herself killed.

Lance attacks its head, jaws crushing and claws dragging and tail slashing through metal like butter. Hunk uses his Lion’s powerful tail and slams it into the thing’s chest, lodging it deep where the heart should be while he tears into the torso with his claws.

Glowing ichor drips from its wounds and the whole thing starts twitching and humming.

Warning bells sound in his head and he rips himself away to throw himself at Lance. He curls his Lion around her own, some deep knowledge or instinct telling him her Lion can’t handle the extreme heat this is going to put off.

The thing explodes and it leaves his ears ringing. The shockwave nearly knocks him over, but he holds his place, heart pounding even though he knows they’ve won.

Lance gently pushes her head into his chest to get him off and the pair look at the remains of the beast. The two of them lean heavily on each other, tired and sore and bloody but alive.

Hunk sighs in shaky relief while Lance cackles and taunts through the comms, leaning into the phantom feeling of Lance pressed against his side.

They’ve won.

***

It takes the combined strength of both Azura and Keone to carry Digit back to the castle with how beat up all of their Lions are.

The second they’re safe in their hangar Lions power down. Azura doesn’t even retain her graceful air, just slumps into a pile with the other Lions as the lights in the cockpit dimmed to its backlights. Her Lion goes quiet in the back of her mind just like before, some sort of sleep mode, Lance guessed.

Climbing out of her Lion was harder than it should’ve been, but Lance makes do. The second she leaves the safety of Azura’s jaws, exhaustion hits her like a wave.

Stumbling across the scorched metal and tangled limbs, Lance makes it to the floor. Her knees are wobbly from the adrenaline and it feels like she’s shaking all over. When she reaches the ground, she doesn’t have the strength to keep herself upright, and falls to her knees.

She doesn’t even feel the sting that should accompany it.

Hunk is the next one out. He comes stumbling out of Keone’s mouth like a sunrise and Lance can’t help but smile as he races towards her. He trips more times than he would’ve if he was paying attention to his feet rather than her on the ground. He almost falls on his face twice in his haste to get to her.

It’s heartwarming in that way only Hunk can be. Endearing in his clumsiness.

He skids into her arms, dropping to his knees and sliding the last few feet to her. He almost knocks her over and it’s enough to make her laugh even as she feels like she’s about to pass out.

Pidge wobbles out of Digit, arm wrapped around her stomach while the other supports her. By some divine force, Hunk is able to pick up Lance so they can meet Pidge halfway in a group hug. Despite how tired he must be, it’s still back-breaking and Pidge even yelps.

He drops all three of them to the floor, Pidge in Lance’s lap and her in Hunk’s, his arms wrapped around them both. Shiro and Keith stand a bit to the side, Shiro looking on in pride and Keith in grudging respect.

 It makes Lance smile just a bit wider.

She can’t help but think this is starting to become some sort of ridiculous ritual of theirs. Near death missions followed by tearful reunions in the hangar.

It makes her equal parts happy and terrified.

***

Two days after the attack at the arusian village, Katie stands in front of the healing pods feeling oddly nervous. Lance and Shiro flank her on either side, both of them having shown up with blankets, soup and ‘buckets of moral support.’

While appreciated, their presence does little to stop her stomach from turning itself in knots. Not even Digit’s comforting meows can help her.

Her mind spins in circles going over worst-case scenarios which make her feel worse with every passing second. Each one makes her feel that much closer to either throwing up or crying.

These aliens are her only lead to finding her family. The fear of what they’ll say makes her feel sick. The thought of them confirming her worst fears, the sorrow of them telling her they’re out of her reach, the possibility they may not even know anything…

Every possibility flies around her mind, tearing down whatever modicum of calm she’s cobbled together until she’s left frayed and exposed.

When the first prisoner falls from the pods, Lance pounces.

There’s a blanket around their shoulders and a cup of soup shoved into their hands before Shiro or her can even move. Lance’s voice is soft and soothing as she explains where they are and how they’re safe here.

It’s the strangest things Katie has ever seen. The normally too loud and in your face girl dawning such a quiet sort of kindness so easily.

It confuses her.

She knew there was more than meets the eye to her sort-of friend, but Katie hadn’t expected this. She seemed almost… vulnerable, where she was crouched next to the shocked alien, small and muted.

It was absurd. Lance never showed vulnerability, it was the one thing about the older girl Katies was certain about these days.

A second prisoner falls from another pod and Lance orders them to do the same as she did. The way she expects them to listen is more familiar territory and Katie follows her orders with only minimal grumbling.

She and Shiro quickly learn they are not as good at this comforting thing as Lance is and turn over the reins to her the first chance they get. Lance picks up their slack and eventually, all nine aliens are calmed and adjusting to their new freedom nicely.

Katie settles down in front of the clustered aliens, legs folded in front of her and hands clasped in an effort to look as harmless as possible. The last thing she wants to do is scare them. Shiro stands a little way behind her while Lance sits off to the side, a small bird-like alien sitting in her lap who was seemingly fascinated with her hair.

Taking a deep breath, she steels her nerves.

Regardless of what the answers are, she needs to know them. Ignorance leads nowhere useful.

“So, how long were you held captive by Zarkon?” she asks as an ice breaker.

She doesn’t have her paladin suit on, but Allura said the bracer should still translate even in their dormant mode. Katie hasn’t gotten a chance to look at the communicator herself but she’s planning on doing it sometime soon. She might even rope Hunk into the experiment.

An older looking alien--though she’s not actually sure how old they are because, well, _aliens--_ pauses in drinking their cup of soup to look down at her. The severe expression on their gaunt face makes Katie curl in on herself, suddenly embarrassed at what she now realized might be an insensitive question.

This was why she didn’t try talking to people normally.

“An interesting way to begin a conversation, Paladin.” The older alien sighs but answers her question, their mouth out of sync with their words, “Years. Decades, maybe. It’s hard to tell in the arena. Time blurs when all you do is try to survive.”

A sharp breath draws her attention to Lance, a look of horror and sorrow on her face as she looks at the group in front of her. She turns her eyes down to the small alien in her lap who had suddenly stilled. “They made you _fight_ other prisoners?” she sounds disgusted at the very idea and Katie can’t help but agree.

The bird alien snorts, face twisted into what might be a scowl. “It was sport for them. A game with us as the pieces.”

Katie’s mind conjures an image of her brother in the arena on the ship, bleeding as he fights for his life. Broken and alone and out of her reach. She grits her teeth at the surge of emotions in her chest.

She sees Lance give her a concerned look, but Katie ignores it. These emotions and thoughts are going to stay in her chest and never be talked about. Talking about them makes them too real.

“I’m sorry,” Shiro tells them. “I can’t imagine.”

The bird alien tilts head quizzically. “But, Champion, you were their favorite piece to play with. You were King of the arena. You fought more than all of us combined. Your thirst for blood was known throughout the entire empire.”

Shiro looks horrified at the very thought. “What? I- no, I’m not _bloodthirsty.”_

An alien towards the edge of the group with hair similar to dreadlocks laughs. Katie can’t tell if he’s being mean spirited or not.

“Not bloodthirsty, he says! Champion, you were like a Koga in the ring! You even injured your fellow earthling so you alone could have the glory of defeating Myzax!”

Katie’s blood runs cold.

_Injured your fellow earthling._

_Injured your fellow earthling._

**_Injured your fellow earthling._ **

The image of her brother bleeding in the arena rears its head again. Only this time, it’s not some faceless entity hurting Matt but Shiro, covered in his blood and grinning.

“You _attacked_ my brother?” she hisses, angry and hurt and wishing she didn’t sound like she was about to cry at that moment.

Katie rises from where she was sitting, her hands shaking at her sides and she wants to hit something. This man who she thought was a family friend, who she thought was _her_ friend, was just a lying backstabber.

She _trusted_ him.

Shiro backpedals away from her. His shaking arms raised placatingly in front of him as if to stop her advance.

If Katie had been thinking straight, she would’ve recognized that he was wearing the same face he had after his episode three days prior. She would’ve been concerned.

But she wasn’t thinking properly. She didn’t recognize his expression. She was far from concerned.

“No, I- Matt was my _best friend_. I wouldn’t have- There must be a mistake.”

“We all do terrible things to survive,” the severe alien speaks up again, resting one of their thin hands on his wrist. “There’s no shame in that, Champion.”

Shiro flinches backward, pulling his wrist to his chest as if burned. _“No._ No, I _wouldn’t-_ “

“The empire may have known of your battle prowess, but it was _us_ who knew of your kindness,” the severe alien continued, voice firm but quiet. “Myzax’s was thought to be unbeatable. The injury was a blessing compared to the bloody death that awaited your friend.” They send a pointed look in Katie’s direction.

The words bring her to a staggering halt.

“What do you mean?”

Their eyes are intense as they look at her. Katie feels as if she’s being weighed for something. “Not everything is as it seems, Paladin.”

Katie’s mind _spins_ over what that might mean. Her eyes flicking back and forth as she tries to understand how she lost control of this conversation so quickly.

“If my brother was injured, do you know where he went? Where do they send the prisoners injured in the arena?”

They shake their head, “I don’t have the answers you seek. Only those at the galra outposts would know where prisoners are reassigned. Your Matt could be anywhere in the empire.” Their expression softens just a hair. “I am truly sorry.”

Katie’s hands clench at her sides and she sucks in a shuddering breath.

_Dead end._

_Failure._

_Useless._

Lance tries placing a comforting hand on her shoulder that only causes her to flinch violently.

She doesn’t want _comfort._

She wants her family back.

Her lip wobbles embarrassingly so she bites down on it, just shy of drawing blood. Her eyes feel hot behind her eyelids and she tells herself not to cry. Not here. Not now.

But her body doesn’t obey her and a traitorous tear escapes down her cheek anyway. Katie scrubs at her face viciously to get rid of the evidence, keeping herself carefully turned away from everyone in a vain attempt to hide her vulnerability.

“I think that’s enough questions for now,” she tells the aliens as she herds Katie out of the room.

Katie isn’t a fool.

She’s a genius actually.

She knows that once the door closes behind them, Lance is going to try and console her or some other mushy-feelings-shit she doesn’t want to deal with right now.

She’s not spilling her guts now and never will. She just wants to be left _alone._

Katie bolts down the hallway before they can stop her. She can hear both Lance and Shiro calling after her, but she doesn’t stop. Doesn’t turn around.

She doesn’t see how Lance’s arm was outstretched after her, a look of anguish on her face.

She doesn’t see the tightness in Shiro’s jaw as he holds himself still to keep from running after her.

She doesn’t see anything through the tears blurring her vision. Doesn’t hear anything over her ragged breaths and heaving sobs.

She finds a room and stays there until long past dinner. No one finds her curled up in a ball in the darkened corner.

She’s not sure anyone tried too.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> it's like eleven thirty at night but I really wanted to post this today so... here. yaaaay.  
> This chapter is kinda all over the place?? but you'll find that I do that kind of a lot in the future so we'll see how that goes.  
> I'm learning that pidge is really hard to write? her thought processes are so much. this is why I write as Lance most of the time. oof.  
> hope you enjoyed the chapter tho, leave me a comment on what you liked, didn't like, or just wondered about.  
> I hope you have a lovely evening.


	6. The Kids Are (Not) Alright

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has approx. two (2) breakdowns and attacking people is a strangely prominent theme

Pidge reappears at breakfast the next morning, acting like nothing out of the ordinary happened yesterday. Like she didn’t disappear for hours the day before and make them all go crazy with worry.

Lance wants to say something about it but knows she’s the least qualified to do so. It’d just be insanely hypocritical and, according to Hunk, she needs to stop doing things like that.

So, there she sits, itching to say something, _anything_ , to help out her friend and coming up dry every time. Her fingernails dig into her palms in frustration.

She’s supposed to be able to help people! That’s her thing. Talk to people and make them feel better, help them realize their potential and confidence in themselves.

People are supposed to be her superpower! It’s one of the reasons she was chosen as the Blue Paladin. It’s the reason she’s _here._

She’s so frustrated by her ineptitude, that during team training that day, Lance decks Keith in the face.

***

They’d been playing some convoluted altean game that was basically The Floor is Lava but with more rules and a higher possibility of injury.  Lance wasn’t sure how this was supposed to be a team exercise, but it _was_ fun. It was even starting to take her mind off the Pidge situation and lift her mood.

That is until she and Keith had tried to jump on the same space at the same time and instead knocked each other to the ground, eliminating them both from the round.

Unsurprisingly, neither of them were happy.

Also, unsurprisingly, they started screaming at each other.

Her mouth was halfway around some insult or another about Keith’s _stupid_ hair when he cuts her off. It didn’t really matter what he said because Lance wasn’t listening. He didn’t get the chance to finish what he was saying either because she draws her fist back and sends him staggering backward, hands clutched to his nose.

For a second, she stared after him, a sneering, victorious grin on her lips and her arm still extended.

Then he turned back to her, hand over his mouth and entire posture denoting the surprise at her lashing out. In the back of her mind, she wonders when he’ll stop being surprised at her anger.

He pulls his hand away to find blood on his glove. Lance’s eyes widen and her smile drops as what she just did finally clicks. Her arm falls to her side and Keith’s eyes meet hers only to darken in anger.

“What the hell, Lance?” he yells.

She opens, closes, then opens her mouth again but no words come out. They’re trapped in her throat as she stares at the damage she caused.

The pounding footfalls of Shiro and Hunk running towards them echo in her brain.

Regret boils in her stomach, making her feel sick with it. If she thought Keith and her didn’t get along before…

“Oh my God. _Oh my-_ Keith, I-” her voice hitches as she makes an aborted movement toward him to… She doesn’t know. Help him? Like he’d want her help anyway. “Holy shit, I’m so sorry. I don’t-”

“You’re _sorry?”_ he spits at her, blood dripping from his split lip. “You just punched me in the face for calling you impulsive and now you’re apologizing?”

 _“Yes,”_ she stresses, hands raised in front of her like some sort of offering. “Look, I messed up okay? I shouldn’t have done that.”

He just scoffs, wiping away more blood and staining his suit with rust. “The least you could do is own up to your actions. We already know you hate me.”

Lance balks at him. “What? I- _No!_ That’s- that’s not what I- I didn’t punch you because I _hate_ you! I don’t-”

Shiro cuts in between them, grabbing Keith by the jaw and tilting him every which way to check for damage. Hunk does the same for her, his hands fluttering around her person even though they both know she’s not the victim here.

Worry hums around Hunk like a frenzy while the echo in her chest fluttering with concern. Lance wonders how she must feel to him at the moment.

Shiro turns to look at her, disappointment and barely concealed anger in his eyes. Lance has to swallow the bile rising in her throat. “What happened here?”

It’s a useless question. He knows what happened, they all do. She and Keith weren’t quiet, and she knows the others had been watching the whole thing. She knows Shiro saw her punch his pseudo little brother seemingly unprompted. She knows he must be furious.

Heavens knows she would be. If she saw someone lay a hand on her sisters there isn’t a force in the universe that could stop her from breaking it.

The ground beneath her shoes becomes utterly fascinating.

 _“I’m sorry,”_ she says again with feeling, hoping this time it might stick.

It’s silent for a moment, no one daring to speak. Then, Shiro releases a rough breath, running his hand through his hair. “I think now is a good time for a break. We’re all obviously stressed from… recent life-changing events.” _Understatement of the century._ “All of us need to relax, I think. Get some time away from each other for a little while before something… worse happens.”

Lance flees the room before he finishes speaking, her head an ongoing loop of _idiot, idiot, idiot_.

***

“Aren’t you going to go after her?” Pidge asks, her head tilted.

He wants to say _‘Yes.’_

The roiling mass of guilt and shame in his chest is concerning and he really wants to run after Lance so he can shake her until she realizes how good a person she is. He wants to run after her so he can shower her with compliments until she believes him.

“No. She just needs time.”

He’s known her since third grade. He knows when she needs to be left alone for a while, he spent years learning how to read her.

And so, he hates that he has to stand back right now when he can _feel_ how upset she is, but he will.

It’s not like he can’t do all that later. He’ll even throw in a cuddle session where he drills how amazing of a person she is into her head.

***

Lance ends up in Azura’s hangar, the lulling comfort of her Lion’s crooning voice luring her inside. The second she’s able, Azura tucks her in between her paws, unbelievably gentle as she curls around her protectively. Cocooning her in metal and heat and the familiar electric static she always gets in response to her Lion.

The two don’t speak; or whatever passes for speaking for them. Azura just sings, earth songs and ocean waves and melodies Lance doesn’t recognize that must have come from her past paladins.

Her mind turns over what happened on the Training Deck over and over again, each time making her tense more and more. It only gets worse when she remembers how Pidge had run yesterday. How as far as she knows, no one’s talked to Pidge about it and now Lance feels horrible because she’s throwing a pity party for herself when it’s Pidge who needs the support, the comfort.

Her friend must think she’s trying to steal her thunder or something.

She hiccups a sob at the thought.

Azura, of course, doesn’t miss it. Her sharp eyes zero in on her, curling tighter around her form if that’s possible.

 _“What’s wrong, dearest one? What troubles you?”_ she rumbles quietly into her mind, her ocean wave voice washing over her, and Lance relaxes despite herself.

Instead of answering, she buries her face into her arms, silent tears wracking through her body.

Azura whimpers, snuffling at her in the hopes of getting some reaction out of the girl. She keeps it up, huffing hot air at her for a few minutes before Lance lifts her head, eyes red and puffy.

 _“What happened?”_ Azura repeats.

A deep breath shudders through Lance as she tries to compose herself. When she speaks, her voice is small and rough. “I’m such a bad friend.”

Azura can’t raise her eyebrow because she’s metal and doesn’t have any but right then Lance knows she’s raising her eyebrow at her. _“How do you mean?”_

“I punched Keith,” she says, running a hand through her hair that she’d pulled out of her careful bun.

The other eyebrow Azura does not have joins the first one she does not have in judging Lance. Her Lion, being fully aware of her opinions on the hothead, was obviously failing to see the problem with her actions and also how they related to her opening statement.

Lance blows a piece of hair from her face. “I _shouldn’t_ have punched him,” she admits. “He spoke over me, which is, like, pretty minor in retrospect. And I wasn’t really mad at him anyway.”

Azura tilts her head to show she’s listening, encouraging Lance to continue.

“…I was mad at myself. Frustrated, really, because I don’t know how to help Pidge deal with her emotions about her family basically being _prisoners of war_ . I just wanted to talk to her or something, let her know she’s not alone but I didn’t know _how._ And then I got angry and now I’ve made this whole situation about me and I feel _horrible.”_

_“I fail to see how that makes you a bad friend.”_

“Because!” she yells, waving her hands around. “It’s Pidge who needs support! I can’t even _imagine_ what is going through her head right now and she’s dealing with it all on her own! I should be helping her but instead, I’m here crying about a mistake I made. I’m whining about my feelings instead of _doing something._ ”

Azura is silent as she regards her. After a prolonged bit of silence broken only by Lance’s shuffling, the giant shakes her head. _“What is it with my paladins believing they must carry the world on their shoulders?”_

Lance stills at the mention of her predecessors.

_“You silly little mortals. The worlds will still continue to spin if you take a moment for yourself. Besides, your friend is far from alone. My sister will hardly let her sit in her melancholy.”_

“But what about the… the scene I made in the training deck?”

_“In my experience, you lot have short memories. This will soon be forgotten. But if it truly makes you upset, then I suppose you could apologize to my sister’s arrogant cub.”_

“I _tried._ He won’t listen!” she looks down at her feet. “He thinks I hate him.”

_“Do you?”_

“No! I don’t-” she pauses, trying to gather her words. “I _thought_ I did, at first. He’s annoying as hell and arrogant and there are so many things I hate _about_ him, but I don’t… I don’t think he’s the person I thought he was. And if I don’t know who he is... how can I hate him? I just-” she stops, looking for the right words. “don’t understand him.”

_“Perhaps you should tell him that.”_

Lance snorts humorlessly. “Yeah, right. Like he’d believe me anyway.”

The pair settle into silence after that. It’s nice. Calm despite the fact that Lance is still spinning thoughts around her mind at breakneck speed.

Something Azura said keeps picking at her. Nagging at the back of her mind.

“How many came before me?” Lance blurts into the air between them. She can feel how the question surprises Azura before her presence in her mind turns melancholy, realizing what she’s asking. And well, it’s not like Lance can take the words _back_ now. “How many Blue Paladins came before me?”

Azura is silent as she stares at her, her endless blue gaze piercing through her. It stretches between them for so long that Lance thinks she won’t answer the question.

 _“One hundred and seven paladins have come before you,”_ her voice is somber and serious as she says the number. So different from her normal brightness and regal tone.

The sheer number of predecessors astounds her, it makes the breath in Lance’s throat stutter. “So many?”

Azura nods, her head lower than it was a moment ago.

Lance wants to ask what happened to them, but she knows. There can only be one paladin at a time, Azura had told her that the first day they met.

They’re all gone.

Is she just the newest model in a long line of paladins? Another replacement meant to die?

 _“NO!”_ Azura growls so loudly it startles Lance, the sound not just in her head but reverberating through the room around her. The tail that had been previously curled around her tenderly is pulled away to thrash wildly, the harsh scrape of metal on metal assaulting her ears.

The sudden anger causes Lance to flinch, curling in on herself protectively.

Azura senses her fear and immediately the anger drains out of her, replaced by resigned tiredness. The giant Lioness sets her head on her paws, eyes going dim.

 _“No,”_ she repeats, quieter but with far more emotion. Sorrow, longing, the deep ache of loving someone long since passed, it all floods Lance’s chest where the bond rests. _“No one can replace them. And no one will be able to replace you when you leave me too. There may have been many who have piloted me, but I have loved each just as fiercely as the last. Mourned them just as harshly each time they were taken from me.”_

Azura pulls in tighter around Lance, tense and pained. _“You are all_ so _precious. I would destroy worlds for you if you wished.”_

Lance’s breath shuddered out of her as once again, the weight of the power she held settled around her shoulders. It was so hard to believe that this ancient being was so loyal to her, what could she possibly offer in return?

“But I’m just… me. Why me?” Lance asked, voicing her thoughts in a voice so quiet she could barely hear herself. “There are billions of people on earth to choose from, and so many more across the galaxy. There has to be someone more qualified! A better pilot or someone who has a reason to fight in this war or- or-”

 _“My precious paladin, you were not chosen for what you can do but for_ who you are. _You are a compliment to me and me to you.”_

“But _why?_ What’s so special about me? I’m just a girl from Cuba. A clumsy, homesick child who’s in over her head. What can I _possibly_ give you?”

Azura tilts her head to look at her, something about the movement soft. _“You are far more than you even realize. You will never be_ just _anything. Soon enough, you will learn why you are here. What your purpose is in this great web of fate. But for now, you get to just be my paladin. And that is all I will ever want from you.”_

Lance stares up at this great being, this creature more powerful than she will ever know who speaks of millennia like days and Lance knows she has no right to stake her claim on such an entity. And yet the bond in her chest burns with love and a vicious sort of protectiveness.

This is _her_ Lion.

Just as she is _her_ paladin.

The thought brings a small smile to her face.

Azura shifts, adopting a more arrogant air around herself. _“Now, I better not hear of you doubting your place here again. It is a horrid insult to my character. I’ve never made a mistake in my life and I’m_ certainly _not going to start now.”_

Lance laughs despite herself.

She still has questions about this. The relationship between them and what it means and how and why it exists in the first place… But one earth-shattering revelation a day is enough for her.

Azura goes back to singing softly and this time it lulls Lance into sleep, her voice like siren song.

Seconds before she dozes off, she swears she can feel fur rubbing against her cheek, softer than anything she’s ever felt before.

***

“Knock that off!” Keith hisses, mouth twisting in displeasure.

Takashi shoots him the no-nonsense look his father always used on him. “Stop squirming and maybe it will hurt less.”

Keith huffs but obediently stops moving without further argument. It still throws Takashi off, how readily he follows his orders and commands now. Ever since Keith had rescued him for the garrison, he’d followed him without question, quip or comment.

It was worrying and strange, like something fundamental in their relationship had changed. Takashi wasn’t sure he liked it. Keith never made anything easy. Not in any of the eight years he’d known him at least.

And despite how much he wanted to broach the topic with his little brother, he knew Keith wasn’t good at feelings… like, _at all_. Pushing said topic now would only result in him punching Takashi in the face in lieu of actually healthy communication.

He was charming like that.

Sidestepping that minefield of a conversation, he chooses the more pressing and less likely to get him punched problem, instead.

“So… Lance,” Takashi starts off none too subtly. Mostly because Keith never responded well to subtle but also because Takashi was about as subtle as a car alarm.

“Oh my god,” Keith mutters, eyes rolling towards the ceiling. “Kill me now.”

Oh, that’s good. He’s not threatening to maim Takashi, which for Keith is basically a green light for him to keep going.

“It seems like you two have a history,” he asks, fake casual as if they both don’t know exactly what he’s trying to do.

Keith makes a face. “Uh? Not really.” Takashi tilts his head for Keith to continue while he spreads the altean healing salve on the bridge of Keith’s nose. “She was a cargo pilot from what I know, and she showed up the night you crashed on earth. I didn’t talk to her at all before then.”

Takashi furrows his eyebrows.

That doesn’t make any sense. Lance doesn't seem the type to dislike someone for no reason. In fact, she seemed the type to befriend everyone she meets if her bubbly personality was anything to go by.

And, well. Takashi loves Keith very dearly but he’s also well aware how much of a dick he can be without trying.

The obvious dissonance between his team was making him nervous. He’s going to get even _more_ gray hairs worrying about this teenage drama. Takashi runs a hand through his hair roughly, feeling tired. God, does he need sleep.

“She’s confusing,” Keith admits quietly. Takashi looks up to find him engrossed in thought, not even looking at him. “I don’t… I don’t know how to act with her. She _changes_ and I don’t-” He looks up at Takashi helplessly because he’s never been good at words. Never really mastered the skill of finding the right words and putting them in the right order.

Luckily, Takashi has long since learned how to understand his brother. He quirks a smile.

“Maybe she doesn’t understand you either.” Keith looks at him doubtfully. “Historically speaking, people don’t really like what they don’t understand. Maybe you just need to understand each other.”

Keith makes a face at that and Takashi sighs, knowing what was going to come out of his mouth before he says it.

He stands up from the bed and makes for the door, “Like it’d be that easy.”

Takashi stares after him for a moment, weighing the pros and cons of running after him or not before deciding that that was all he was going to get out of him right then and that letting him sit in his own head for a while was probably best.

Slowly, Takashi packs up the first aid kit Coran had given him, tucking it neatly into his chest and sets off to find the other teenage problem child he’s so fond of.

***

Hunk finds her eventually.

Lance has a sneaking suspicion he knew where she was the whole time but left her alone so she could work things out for herself. She’s grateful for that. He always did have a knack for knowing what she needed before even she did.

“Hey.” He sits down next to her, dressed comfortably and with his faithful headband still tied around his head. Lance tugs on the end in lieu of a greeting. “You okay?”

“I am now.”

“I checked on Pidge for you. It looked like her and Shiro were having some sort of feelings jam in Green’s hangar.”

“Thanks, honeybee,” she smiles up at him before her expression falls once again. “…What about, Keith? Is he okay?”

If Hunk is surprised by her question, he doesn’t show it besides pausing to think over his answer. “I haven’t seen him since the training deck, but he seemed fine when he left with Shiro. Physically at least.” He tilts his head, regarding her. “Are you gonna tell me why you decided to deck him out of nowhere?”

Lance made a sound like a cross between a groan and a whine, falling backward so she was sprawled across the floor, hands dragging down her face.

Hunk nods sagely at her as if the unintelligible noises had been a poignant answer. “I figured. What are you going to do about it?”

“I don’t know. Azura said I should tell him I don’t hate him and try apologizing again but…”

“You don’t think it will do anything?”

She lets out a whoosh of air. “No. No, I don’t.”

They’re silent for a long moment.

“I think you’re wrong.” Lance snaps her gaze to Hunk’s face. He’s looking at her in that puzzle-solving way again. Taking her apart and putting her back together. “I think… that you don’t want to make him believe you. You want to hate him, want him to hate you.”

“I-” She stares at him, speechless, before admitting quietly. “It would be easier.”

Hunk shakes his head. “You of all people should know it’s never easy.”

“Yeah… I know.”

“Hmm. Well, come on. Dinner’s going to be ready soon.” He stands up and offers his hand to her. After a moment she takes it, letting him pull her to her feet and into a hug. “It’ll work out. One way or another. We’ll be fine, we always are.”

The sound that comes from her mouth is almost a laugh. A breathless rush of air that could sound happy on someone who wasn’t just crying.

Hunk apparently doesn’t think it’s good enough, because the second the sound passes her lips his eyes narrow as he attacks her sides with merciless fingers.

She shrieks at the sensation, laughter pulled from her throat as she tries to fight him off. “Ahaha! Hunk, no! _Stop it!_ I give! I give! Ohmygod I can’t _breathe!_ Stop it!”

She shakes herself from his hold and it starts a chase through the hallways that somehow ropes Pidge, Shiro, and Coran into the ridiculous game of cat and mouse. The tension of before, fading with every breathless laugh as they run their way through the castle. Not gone completely, but more manageable at least. Breathable where before it had been stifling.

***

“And it was as such, that the mighty Lion Warriors _defeated_ the great beast! Saving us and proving themselves worthy of our noblest of honors…” The arusian king paused, probably to gesture grandly at the audience that Lance couldn’t see from where she was knelt before him with her head bent. “The Medallions of Valor!”

“Guardian of Sea,” the king places a necklace around her neck, smoothing the medallion down her chest and making sure the inscription faced outwards. It was a small golden shield, a little bigger than a quarter with a unique design on it for each of them. Lance’s had a simplistic depiction of waves. “We thank you.”

The arusians behind her echoed the words back to her as she raised her head to meet the king’s kind eyes. They smiled at each other as he moved to repeat the ceremony with Hunk and Pidge, each raising their head at the right time.

Once all of them had received their medallions, the King raised his arms once more. “May the Goddess bless you on your journey and guide you safely through your battles.”

The arusians broke out into applause and cheering as the three stood to their full height, especially the group of warriors in the front and Coran who was hooting and hollering in the back. The sight made Lance smile wide.

“Thank you for this honor, Your Majesty.” Lance bowed to the King once more, Hunk and Pidge following suit.

“Thank _you,_ for protecting my people,” he replied, bowing back to her with a smile on his face.

Allura ascended the castle steps they’d been standing on until she was even with the arusian king. She was dressed regally, a floor-length dress done in carefully beaded reds and golds. A long, shimmering golden sash crossed over her chest and hid her left arm from view but cinched at her waist, keeping her waist visible.

She gave a deep bow to the King which he returned happily.

“Thank you for your kind words, Your Majesty. It saddens me that we will be departing tomorrow but my heart is light with the knowledge that we will be leaving as friends and comrades.”

The King beckons Sunspike from the throng of warriors to ascend the steps to his side. “It brings me great joy and sorrows as well, Lion Princess. In honor of our new friendship, we gift you with the finest blade made by our most skilled blacksmith.” The warrior kneels before Allura, a feat in of itself on the thin stairs, and raises the blade above their head as an offering. “May it honor you well in battle.”

The blade offered isn’t much longer than a dagger, though for aliens as small as the arusians it’s more akin to a long sword. It’s well-crafted from what Lance can see, only slightly decorated at the hilt and practically gleaming all along the blade.

Allura gracefully takes the offered blade, smiling demurely at Sunspike and the King. “Many thanks, Your Highness. I also have a gift for you.” The princess reaches into a hidden pocket at her waist--and Lance really wants to know how she has one of those--and pulls out a long-distance communicator. Pidge twitches at her side, staring at the communicator fascinatedly.

Coran had shown them a model in one of their lessons to highlight functions and compare them to the comms in their suits, but it looks like Pidge has yet to carve out some time for her to actually steal and take apart one for herself.

Honestly, her and Hunk were menaces to new technology. Always wanting to break it open to look at the insides. Lance is just glad that their passions are technological in nature rather than biological.

God, that would be a mess.

She shakes the horrifying thought from her head and focuses back on Allura, who handed the communicator to the King.

“The planet Arus shall be the first to join us in the Voltron Alliance. Contact us whenever you are in need of assistance.”

“We shall treasure it, Lion Princess.” He turns back to his people and raises his hands, the communicator flashing in the light. “Now, without further ado, let the festivities begin in tribute to our new friends and humble warriors!”

“Hurrah!” the arusian crowd agrees enthusiastically. The band that was camped out in the corner of the vestibule started an upbeat folk tune that almost all the arusians began hopping too.

Lance excitedly drags Hunk to the dance floor with her to join in while he grumbles about his two left feet. She ignores him in favor of pulling him around to the beat, the pair of them doing more jumping and twirling than any actual _dancing._

Lance, who has long since learned how to keep away from Hunk’s clumsy feet, expertly moves around him in twirling circles and hops. She’s _enjoying_ herself for the first time since coming to space, losing herself to the music and laughter.

She didn’t know how tense she was until she let herself relax again.

But Hunk is nothing if a whiner, so after two songs and Lance bulling him into twirling her in the air like the scene in dirty dancing, Hunk finally manages to drag her off the floor, their faces red and grinning. She’s actually kind of thirsty herself so she doesn’t protest as much as she normally would.

That is until she sees he’s leading her to the edge of the room where Keith is leaning up against the wall like some reject anime protagonist.

She shoots Hunk a look because she knows exactly what this is about, and she _hates_ it when he meddles. Well, she hates it when he meddles with _her_ in particular. She thinks it’s hilarious when he meddles with other people.

All he does is grin at her and keep walking, hand firmly holding her in place. The dick.

When Keith catches sight of them approaching he glares at them which Lance thinks is a great sign to _turn back now._ But Hunk keeps trucking along.

Lance, resigned to her fate at this point, rolls her eyes at both of the idiotic boys in her life and grabs three drinks from a tray flying by. She passes one to Hunk before practically shoving the other into Keith’s hands.

“Hi, Keith! This is some party, huh?” Hunk greets warmly because he’s a devious person who ropes people in with sweet smiles and cake and then by the time they see the cunning mastermind underneath, it’s too late. You’re addicted to his sugar cookies.

Wait, that sounds like a euphemism.

Gross.

Keith just narrows his eyes, doing his best to look sullen and emo.

“You know,” she starts off, leaning on the wall next to him. “You’re meant to have _fun_ at a party.”

Keith squints at her suspiciously. “What are you doing?”

“Uh? Teaching you how to be a real boy?”

“Why?”

Lance shrugs, “I like picking up charity cases?” Keith’s scowl grows more pronounced. “Oh, calm down, Cujo. It’s called a joke. Ask Hunk why we’re here, he’s the one who dragged me off the dance floor to participate in this _fun_ little play date,” she drawls, swirling her glass as she stares dubiously at the purple liquid inside.

Keith turns to Hunk, eyebrow raised challengingly while Hunk returned the look with a shy smile, the one that made Lance want to coo at him like some duckling. Except not right then because she was _annoyed_ at him dammit.

“Ah- well, you know. You- you looked kinda… lonely? You weren’t talking to anyone and as Lance said, parties are to have fun, right? Who knows the next time we’ll have one of these?”

Keith is still tense and looking at her like she’s going to bite his face off which, okay, she hasn’t really given him any reason to believe otherwise but she’s trying to say _sorry_ and _improve their relationship._ Hunk may have dragged her here against her will but that doesn’t make him any less _right._ They’re supposed to be a team and she’s willing to be the bigger person, for this at least.

It’d be easier if he stopped looking at her like some wild animal though. Does he really think she’ll attack him with Hunk _standing right there?_ She wouldn’t be able to handle the disappointment on Hunk’s face if she did.

Come to think of it, Hunk’s disappointed face is probably the reason she doesn’t do a lot of things.

Lance sighs heavily, her body going loose as she exaggerates the movement. “Come _on!_ Socialize! Have fun! It won’t kill you, okay? Go. _Dance_. Shake what your momma gave ya.” She shimmies her hips to punctuate her point as she gives him an encouraging grin.

He follows the movement with a confused frown on his face. “My mom left me as a baby. She never gave me anything.”

Lance stops moving. It’s like a record scratch in a movie, everything just _stops._

_What the fuck._

He doesn’t even seem to realize the level of _heartbreaking orphan_ he’s outputting here. It kinda makes it even worse.

“What?” Keith asks genuinely confused.

Lance audibly facepalms because it’s the only thing she can do that emotes her level of _done_ with this boy.

“You are a disaster human being.”

“I don’t understand.”

Lance looks back up at him and he’s just staring at her, utterly befuddled and more than a little uncomfortable with where this has gone.

For a second, she likes to think the two halves of her brain are battling it out over what option to choose. Whether she should abandon him in favor of keeping him at the comfortable distance of faint loathing or save him from the pit of despair that is himself.

In her mind, it’s an epic battle between her desires and her morality. There are monologues, dramatic rainfall, and fancy swords. It’s all suitably theatrical.

In reality, she always knew which option she was going to pick.

Withholding another full body groan at the cruelness of the world, Lance slings an arm over Keith’s shoulder--she’s taller than him so she can do that, not that it’s _important_ or anything.

(It is.)

Keith tenses at the contact but Lance ignores it and barrels onwards. “So, I’ve decided right now that you are _hopeless--_ but that’s okay because you now get to hang out with me and Hunk for the night. You are going to have fun if it _kills_ me. Starting with: _dancing_.”

She starts dragging him to the dance floor to Keith’s apparent displeasure. “What? No! I don’t want to-”

 _“If it kills me,_ Keith,” she repeats more forcefully this time looking him in the eye seriously. “Now, come on partner, show me how you do-si-do.”

Keith looks back helplessly at Hunk who just shrugs and waves him off. Lance blows him a kiss while leading Keith to the dance floor.

Just before they step on to it, Lance downs the contents of the cup in her hand.

It takes her a whole .5 seconds to regret that decision. The liquid burns in a way that is entirely unnatural and tastes like the foulest thing Lance can imagine. She spits it out immediately and throws the offending cup at the nearest wall for its crimes.

She does the same to Keith’s cup.

“You’re welcome. I just saved your life.”

The look he gives her makes unimpressed look excited.

***

Hunk watches as his best friend drags Keith out on the dance floor, bullying him into the proper foot placements and steps. It doesn’t take long for the two to start sniping at each other but even from where he’s standing, he can tell it’s not serious.

By the way the pair’s lips quirk up at the corners as they trade verbal blows, Hunk would even say they’re having fun.

For now, at least.

He loves Lance, he really does, but her patience only goes so far. And from what he knows of Keith, his fuse is even shorter than hers. Putting them together is like taking a jar full of nitroglycerin and _shaking it_ , hoping it doesn’t go off in your hands.

He’s not really sure what Lance’s problem with Keith is but he has a guess. It’ll take _at least_ one heart-to-heart and an apology in order to get rid of whatever ugly feelings she has for the red paladin. But for now, at least, she can stand his presence.

He’ll just have to make sure to step in before anyone draws blood.

He turns to see if he can find any of the others. Pidge should still be around here somewhere, or maybe he could talk to Shiro?

Lance has it in her head that she’s going to help the older pilot if it’s the last thing she does. Hunk might as well try to ease the man into it before she gets tired of playing the waiting game and goes after him herself.

He finds Shiro in the crowd a second before he turns on his heel and marches out of the castle. Coran stares after him with his head tilted.

Hunk wonders what that’s about.

***

“Okay. I do have something to tell you.” Katie forces the words out of her mouth, their taste bitter and frustrated.

Allura gazes at her in anticipation, the arusian mice on her shoulder mimicking the movement. “I had a feeling! What is it?”

“I…” Digit whines in the back of her mind and it’s like a punch to the stomach. The sound clawing at her chest and leaving her hollow. She spits the words out before she loses the will to do so. “I’m leaving Voltron.”

Katie forces herself to watch as Allura’s expression falls, her face crumbling at the words.

“What?” her voice is so quiet, especially for someone so large. It sounds like it might break like glass.

Or maybe Katie’s just projecting.

“I have to. Xi said a galra outpost was the only way to find information on my family. I’ve used the data of all the distress signals sent over the last ten thousand years to determine the most likely locations of galra bases.” she takes a deep breath, steeling herself against the disappointment from both Allura and Digit. “I’m leaving tonight.”

Digit howls in her mind, begging her not to go. Not to _leave_ her.

The pain and sorrow flooding their bond cause her to flinch from the force of it. Her mouth is dry as she watches Allura flounder in front of her.

“Pidge, you _can’t-”_ her voice breaks.

“I thought you of all people would understand!” She doesn’t shout, but it’s a near thing. She can’t handle all of these emotions. She’s built for facts not feelings.

Shiro had tried helping her a week ago. Talking to her about Matt and her father and sharing stories and confirming he didn’t want to hurt Matt in the arena.

She knows he was trying to reassure her but all he did was make her more determined to save them. Make the fire inside her burn brighter her need for them more pronounced.

She just wants to find her family. Can’t they see that?

“I have to. I’m sorry.” Katie finally lets herself look away. “I’ll go tell the others,” she says, even though the thought of doing that again is painful. Even though Digit is still yowling in the back of her mind, screaming and clawing at any chink in her armour.

It hurts, but in this, she can’t waver.

 _“My family,”_ she tells Digit.

 _“My paladin,”_ Digit cries back.

Katie apologizes but it’s not enough. It’ll never be enough.

She grits her teeth and moves to find Shiro.

***

After a while, Lance dances away from Keith, leaving him to fend for himself on the dance floor after a particularly stinging quip. Nothing too personal, and she’s pretty sure Keith hadn’t even meant it like that, but it reminded her of her family too much so she bailed before she could undo all the work she just did.

Her spirits are still high even if her nerves are tense, so she runs off to find Hunk and tell him all about how horrible of a dancer Keith is. As she passes a flying tray, she grabs a cup unthinkingly, her throat dry. She spits it out almost immediately but as she reaches Hunk’s side a thought occurs to her.

“I suppose we’ll have to get used to this space juice, huh?” she contemplates, only half caring. “Who knows how long it’ll be before we have Earth food again?”

Hunk hums at her, paying more attention to a group of arusians doing some sort of folk dance a couple of paces away. “If we ever do.”

The words knock Lance’s carefree mood away. Cold dread rises in her stomach and her tongue is thick when she speaks. “What do you mean?” _Shut up, shut up, shut up, stop talking, please._

Hunk still doesn’t turn to her. “Zarkon’s been ruling for 10,000 years. How long do you think it’ll take us to fix it? Assuming we survive that is.”

Lance feels like all the air in the room is gone. Sucked out into the vacuum of space that she now lives in _(will die in)._

She must make some sort of noise, maybe like a gasp or a sob, or perhaps her panic manifests itself in the bond in some horrible way, because between one blink and the next Hunk is staring at her wide-eyed and horrified, his hand reaching out to her but not touching. Her breath shudders through her, all the thoughts she’d been burying rise to the surface with a vengeance.

Her sisters. Her _parents_ . All her _family._

What must they think happened?

What were they told?

What will they think when she never comes back?

 _They’ll never know if_ -when _she dies._

 _They won’t mourn her when she passes because she’ll be gone, gone,_ gone.

 _“Lance.”_ Hunk tries, stepping forward.

For the first time since she’s known him, she steps back.

The look of hurt that flashes across his expression makes the feeling in her chest become a stabbing pain.

Azura croons in the back of her mind, so worried, so distant, so foreign. _So unlike her mother’s soft tenor as she sang to her when she was sick and now she’ll never hear it again-_

“I- I have to go.” she chokes out. “I think the Nunvill is getting to me, ya know?” she jokes weakly. The pain in Hunk’s eyes get worse and she flees before either of them start crying in the middle of the ballroom.

Her feet lead her down hallway after hallway, the walls blurring together as she darts past them. Her mind spins in circles, chasing after its own fears and whispering horrors in her ears. She trips over herself more than once in her mad dash through the Castle, but she doesn’t stop. Not until she stumbles into the Bridge, the room quiet and alien with only herself inside.

She collapses onto the center dais, curling into a ball and shaking as her mind turns against her. Her teeth sink into the fabric of her inner elbow to muffle the cries tearing themselves from her throat.

Lance’s world is crashing down around her ears and she can’t _stop it._

Her mind flips through all the times she’s needed her family, all the people she’s left behind. She desperately misses them and curls further into herself at the thought of never seeing them again. The homesickness and fear knocking her down and holding her there as she drowns.

She’d been a fool. Hoping to survive this endless war she knows nothing about. She was going to die millions of lightyears from home and she never even got the chance to even say _goodbye._

Her breath hitches. She can’t _breathe._

She’d lied to herself, convinced everything would be okay when she got back home. Convinced she’d _make_ it back home. Tricked herself into believing it will all be fine, but _it won’t._

She can’t see them. Can’t see Francisca's smirk as she sweeps her pencil across drafting paper. Can’t see the way Mace taps her fingers on the back of her clipboard as she recites all the symptoms of a childhood disease. Can’t see Sabre’s soft flannels flared open as she’s sprawled across the couch.

She can’t hear her mama’s muttering as she’s bent over a priceless suit of armour. Can’t hear her Papi's soft chuckle as she hits another bullseye. Can’t hear cousin Marco’s childish cries of joy as he toddles around the living room. Can’t hear the fantastical stories of her cousins as they crowd around the laptop camera in the kitchen.

She can’t feel the soft wrinkles of her Pipo's weathered hands. Can’t feel the calloused knuckles of her Abuelita as she whispers of battles in the streets and family bonds.

 _She can’t breathe_.

How many things will she never see? How many achievements will she miss?

Mace graduating. Francisca's conquering of the fashion industry. Tio Mateo finally getting married. Marco’s third birthday. Elena’s first science fair project. Christmases. Birthdays. _Everything._

Lance feels like screaming. The pressure builds in her chest and it feels like the only way to get it out, get it out, _get it out._

Azura stops crooning in her mind, instead spreading herself over her fragile psyche in the hopes of keeping her together. Lance almost pushes her away. Wants to break and fall apart because surely it must be better than surviving with this hollow in her chest?

Her Lion begs her to come to her hangar, let her wrap her up and make the world disappear.

Lance curls further into a ball, the world dimming around her.

The sound of footsteps finally register in her mind and Lance raises her head, heart jack-knifing in her chest. “Coran!” She wipes the tears from her eyes hurriedly, as if the red eyes and smeared makeup wouldn’t give her away. As if he hadn’t heard her sobbing only second ago.

He stares at her with a look of utter sympathy, his eyes filled with memories she can’t see and sorrow she doesn’t know.

He offers her a small smile, so different from his usual brilliant grin it throws her off for a moment. “May I join you?”

Lance swallows. “Sure.”

The towering alien sits down on the step below her, making their height difference less noticeable. Making Lance feel less small and useless. Making her feel less alone.

They’re silent for a while as Lance regains control of her breathing. The ragged breaths of before fading into something smoother.

“I had a daughter once,” Coran says, breaking the silence. His voice startles her, so soft and quiet in the dim light of the crystal overhead. He sounds almost fragile as he speaks. “She was the light of my life. My everything. Happiness and joy followed wherever she stepped, her kindness was known by everyone in the Castle… She was brighter than even the sun sometimes.”

Lance feels like if she breathes, Coran will break. The shadows over his eyes more prominent than ever. The smile on his lips small and so full of sadness she can barely call it by that name.

He turns to look in her eyes and the words tumble from her mouth before she can stop them. “What happened to her? Was she…” she can’t finish. Doesn’t want to. Wants to snatch the words back and shove them back down her throat and lock them in her chest.

But she can’t.

He knows what she was asking even she doesn’t finish the sentence. “No, she…  She burned from the inside out until there was nothing left. Gave too much of herself to others.”

“I’m sorry,” she says because what else is there to say.

“I’m not telling you this for your sorrow, my dear. I want you to know I understand your heartache. The loss of one’s family is a horror I wish on no one.”

“I didn’t lose them though,” she says bitterly, glaring down at her armoured toes. “I _abandoned_ them.”

“That is not true-”

“Isn’t it?” she snaps. “They have no idea where I am or if I’m even alive! I ran off and joined a war, Coran! And I can’t leave or see them because I’m bound here by duty and Azura and all those people out there who are _terrified_ . I’m being torn in two different directions and I don’t know what to _do._ Coran, I-” her voice breaks. “I wish I could see them, but I _can’t.”_

She buries her face back into her arms, the feeling of shame and sorrow weighing her down like lead sitting in her chest.

 _“I miss them so much,”_ she whimpers into her sleeve.

Suddenly, there are arms wrapped around her, cradling her to a warm chest. She shifts without thinking, burying her face into the fabric near her head. Her broken sobs filling the air along with Coran’s gentle coos and soothing hums.

It reminds her so much of her Tio--of her Papi--that she _aches._

But she would give anything to never let this moment end. She’s warm and held in a way so different from Hunk’s but no less comforting.

She feels cared for and safe.

Eventually, her sobs turn to shuddering gasps which turn into sniffles which turn into ragged breaths. The entire time, Coran doesn’t stop his gentle noises or the comforting sweep of his hands up and down her back.

“My dear girl, how do you stand all the heartache in your chest? One so small should not carry a burden this large.” He sounds sad and scared as he speaks, and Lance can’t help but think about the daughter he told her about. The one who burned herself out.

Is she like her?

Will they share the same fate?

Is she forcing Coran to watch it all over again?

“If your family loves you half as much as you do them,” he tells her, resting his head atop her own, “then I have no doubt in my mind that they will be nothing but _overjoyed_ to see you when you return to Earth. Safe and sound.”

“When?”

“When,” he repeats firmly. “I _promise_ you, I will do everything in my power to make sure you return to your home. On my Goddess and the love of my daughter, I swear you will see your family again, my dear.”

Lance stares up at him for a moment, unsure what to do in the face of that.

Then, she squeezes the altean so hard he wheezes.

“Thank you,” she whispers into his chest. She doesn’t see the way his eyes soften down at her, but she feels his arms tighten around her just a hair. To Lance, it feels like gulping down air after drowning.

They stay like that for who knows how long, just basking in each other’s comfort. Neither of them wanting to move from where they were but knowing they’ll have to eventually.

Coran gives her one final squeeze before loosening his arms from around her. “Come on, number three. We best get back to the party. I’m sure they’re missing us.”

Lance hums non-committedly. She wipes her hands under her eyes once more and stands, Coran towering over her at her right. She stares up at him.

“What?”

“You are _so_ tall. I now know how Pidge feels whenever she stands next to Hunk.”

That startles a laugh out of Coran who shakes his head down at her before handing her a handkerchief. She takes it gladly.

Walking towards the door, she feels lighter. The world doesn’t seem like it’s crushing her anymore. She hopes that eventually, space will mellow out. That every other day will stop throwing this kind of shit at her.

She’s lost in thought, still trying to reorganize her thoughts and trying to think about what she’ll say to Hunk when she gets back down to the party. She needs to apologize for running off like that, for one. Then maybe they should have a sleepover, Lance will see if she can scrounge up some altean nail polish maybe?

Hunk likes it when she paints his nails, says it’s calming.

Lance thinks calming things are even more important now.

Maybe she should see if the rest of the team would go for some sort of relaxation day? They all need it.

Rover whizzes past them into the room and Lance raises a hand in greeting even though she’s sure the bot doesn’t notice. Too long hanging around Pidge she supposes. “Hey, Rover.”

She makes it two more steps before she wonders where Pidge is if Rover’s here. Something makes her turn back around, the question on her tongue as she follows the drone’s path to the crystal hanging from the ceiling.

She watches as the drone changes from friendly green to menacing red, the sound of beeping reaching her ears.

Her body moves before her mind even registers what she’s seeing.

She sprints for Coran who didn’t see the drone. Coran who’s still in the blast zone. Coran who just helped her when he didn’t have to.

His name tears itself from her throat a second before she tackles his large frame to the ground, trying in vain to cover his body with her own.

The bomb goes off before they hit the ground.

Heat sears itself across her back and her mask snaps into place a second too late.

Her world goes dark.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> woot! another chapter!! too bad it's a cliffhanger... sorry not sorry  
> but some things are taking shape which, again, woot!  
> this is a really long chapter because uh... this was originally going to be two but they both were really short so I spliced them together. hopefully, there isn't too much dissonance between the two?  
> also, remember how I said Pidge was hard to right?? yeah, Shiro is harder. he's like, all leaderly but he's also a major fuckin goof and it is a weird balance. I love him though, hopefully, I do all my characters justice?  
> what do you think is going to happen next? what do you think is going on between characters? what do you want to see or be expanded on? comment below or shoot me a pm over at [lady-literature](https://lady-literature.tumblr.com/) on Tumblr! I'm always happy to talk. don't forget to leave kudos too, they fuel my desperate need for that Validation™.  
> See you next time!


	7. Rock and Rolling Around

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explosions, Mission Impossible, and Family. Oh, my!

“You can’t value the lives of _two_ people over the entire _universe!_ What about the Paladin Code?” Keith insists angrily as Pidge glares up at him defiantly, looking seconds away from hissing and spitting like a cornered animal.

Hunk debates stepping in before it can get to that point but Shiro does it first, grabbing Keith’s shoulder and stopping the Red Paladin in his tracks. “Keith, stop it.”

“Why? If she leaves there _is no Voltron!”_ he turns back to Pidge, a sneer marring his face. “You’d abandon your Lion? Your duty to the Universe?”

Pidge flinches then looks angry at herself for doing so. “I’m not _abandoning_ Digit!”

“Sure looks like it from where I’m standing.”

Pidge goes red with fury and Hunk steps forward to stop her from lunging at Keith when an explosion knocks him off balance. The Castle walls shake and he only manages to catch himself a second before he crashes into Pidge, the two of them grabbing onto each other in order to stay upright. With a silent _pop,_ the lights around them brighten before shutting off, bathing the panicking crowd in darkness.

“What’s happening?” he shouts over the din. The arusians are all rushing past them, a sea of small bodies flooding through the entryway. Hunk grips Pidge tighter, lest she is swept up in the crowd.

“There must be something wrong with the Bridge!” Allura shouts back, already running for the stairs, her skirt bunched around her hips. “The entire castle’s lost power!”

“Fucking hell!” Pidge exclaims, running after her. “You’re a super advanced alien species and you don’t have a backup power generator? What the fuck even _are_ you people?”

Allura doesn’t deign that with a response and the group of them sprint to the Bridge at breakneck speed.

As they round the hallway leading to it, Hunk smells smoke and his stomach drops. The doors have been blown outwards and thick grey smoke billows out into the hallway. Hunk sees Pidge tap on her helmet to keep the smoke out and follows her lead with the others while Allura rips the hem of her dress to tie around her mouth.

The Bridge is a mess. Glass lies all along the floor and the dais is cracked with bits of the ceiling scattered about. In the middle of the mess lies a mound of something.

The smoke clears a little further and Hunk can see that the mound on the ground are people.

Coran and Lance.

The pair are in a tangled heap on the floor, Lance on top of the taller alien with the back of her armour scorched black.

Hunk’s world stops at the sight, his throat going tight as he looks down at the mangled form of his best friend. For a moment he’s frozen in place. Unable to move or force himself to understand the scene in front of him.

Then all at once, he’s rushing forward, a strangled cry of _“Lance!”_ forcing its way past his lips. His hands are shaking as they run along her back and sides checking for injuries or signs she may have spinal damage. He presses his head to the back of her suit in the hopes of finding a heartbeat or breath or _something._

He is only vaguely aware that he’s begging her to wake up between his panicked breaths. Pleading with her to tell him she’s okay, that it’s all going to be fine. To smile and tell him not to worry.

She doesn’t.

He pulls her into his lap, cradling her to his chest. Her head lolls to the side and a sob wracks through him. He shakes with the force of it even as he tries to keep himself steady so not to cause more damage than he already did by moving her into his lap.

His medical training screams at him to lay her back flat, to apply first aid but it’s drowned out by the voice screaming at him that _she’s dying, she’s broken, she’s in front of you, hold her in her last moments, **she’s dying-**_

Lance groans.

Hunk’s breath catches and his hand moves to the side of her helmet as if she can feel his hand through the metal. “Lance? Lance, _please,_ wake up.”

Coran’s hand crosses into his line of sight and Hunk flinches away instinctively, causing Lance to whimper at the sudden movement. Hunk’s chest tightens painfully.

Coran grabs Lance’s shoulder, a strangled whine coming from his throat that has Hunk turning to look at him. The older alien looks brokenly down at her, his long ears pulled back like a mournful cat and soot covering his face and hair. He looks mostly unharmed; Lance having taken the brunt of the explosion. _“No, no, no, no, no-_ I promised! I _promised_ her-”

“Coran!” Allura appears out of nowhere, hands on either side of his face and forcing him to look at her. “Coran what happened?”

It takes a second for his eyes to focus on her. “I… I don’t know.”

“We need to get her to the Infirmary,” Pidge says joining the conversation, shoving her hand under Lance’s neck to check for a pulse. Her voice is forceful, but Hunk can hear the way it shakes.

“We can’t.”

His head whips toward Allura so fast, he thinks he hears his neck crack. “What do you _mean_ we can’t?” Hunk asks hysterically.

“The Crystal’s broken. Which means there’s no power. Even if we get her there, there isn’t anything we can do for her. The pods are powerless.”

“Seriously. Why don’t you guys have _backup power,”_ Pidge hisses, tapping away at her suits internal computer.

At that exact moment, there was a beeping sound coming from Allura. She pulls out the universal communicator, the device blinking rapidly. She taps the screen and the room is filled with the sound of chaos. Screaming and crashing is heard in the background and Allura looks concerned by whatever she sees on the screen.

_ “Lion Princess! Our village is under attack. Please, you and your Warriors must help us!” _

Keith comes up behind her shoulder to look at the screen and winces. “We’ll be there as soon as we can.” he turns to Pidge. “You need to get to your Lion.”

“I don’t take orders from  _ you, _ ” Pidge snaps without looking up.

The Arusian King makes a sound like a whine. _ “You will not help us?” _

“No!” Keith says. “Just- We’ll be there!” he turns more forcefully the second time, as Allura reassures the King. _“Pidge.”_

“We all need to calm down,” Shiro speaks over them all, voice confident and smooth. A strong pillar in the storm of their fraying emotions. “Panicking won’t help Lance. Princess, how do we get the Castle back online?”

Allura looks up at the ceiling, towards the shattered remains of the power source. But it’s Coran who answers. “We need a new Crystal. We need to get to a Balmera.” He stands up shakily and Allura is by his side in a second.

“Got it!” Pidge exclaims. “There’s one not far from here, we shouldn’t need a wormhole,” she swears under her breath. “But it’s galra occupied.”

Coran says something in another language that is probably unflattering. His eyes turn back to Lance and something in his gaze turns to steal. “Fine. Hunk, come with me.”

“What? No! I’m not leaving her!” he tightens his grip around her as if scared someone might try to take her away.

“Hunk,” Coran pleads. “I need someone strong to help carry back the crystal.”

“No, I can’t- I can’t just _leave_ her.” The panic is rising back up again. This is why he had wanted to leave, to run away and not look back. But Lance and her too big heart, Lance her need to save everyone. Hunk’s breath hitches and he thinks he might’ve had a panic attack right then and there if Shiro hadn’t knelt down next to him at that moment and grounded him with the hand on his shoulder.

“I’ll make sure she’s safe.” Hunk looks at him, still hesitant. Still terrified. “She needs that crystal, Hunk. Or else…” Shiro doesn’t finish the sentence. No one dares.

Hunk feels sick at just the _thought_.

He takes one more look at Lance before carefully leaning down and pressing their foreheads together. “I’ll be back okay? Hang in there.”

Slowly, _gently_ , Hunk places Lance in Shiro’s arms. His hands lingering around her as if she’ll suddenly jump up and beg for him to stay.

She doesn’t.

“Come on. I’ll plug the coordinates into Keone.” Pidge tells him, before turning back to Keith her voice sharp when she speaks to him. “I’ll meet you down at the Arusian village with Digit as soon as I’m finished.”

“I’ll come with you,” Allura tells Keith before the two go racing off.

Hunk spares one last look at Lance’s broken form.

“I’ll protect her,” Shiro promises.

Hunk nods because his voice won’t work. Then he’s running after Pidge and Coran before he can change his mind.

***

Takashi cradles Lance to his chest as best he can, trying to support her head and avoid aggravating any injuries. Even still, she whimpers anytime he moves too quickly, the sound tearing itself from her throat seemingly on its own.

He steps as carefully as he can, but he can only do so much without sacrificing too much speed. He needs to get to the vestibule. The crystal bombed and the village attacked at the same time? Something’s happened. Someone wants them weak and split up.

Takashi needs to get somewhere he can easily defend the castle and Lance. And with the Vestibule being the only ground entrance to the Castle and with enough alcoves to easily hide Lance for a period of time, it’s the best place with short notice and few resources.

He gets there just in time to see a group of Galra marching up the courtyard.

Hoping they haven’t noticed him yet, Takashi places Lance down carefully in a nook at the end of the hallway. She’s tucked into the corner which should help hide her but leaves her defenseless if someone walks over here.

Takashi grits his teeth. It will have to do.

He sprints forward to meet the approaching enemy force, a snarl on his lips. As he gets closer, he realizes who it is standing at the head of the infiltration group and Takashi goes cold.

_“Sendak.”_

He’s still as giant as Takashi remembers. A nightmare pretending to be a person.

The dim light makes him more monstrous than normal. His hulking, mismatched shoulders and glittering red robotic eye making him seem like something from Takashi’s darkest nightmares. His uniform gleams like tar in the moonlight and his teeth flash as he speaks.

For a second, the arena threatens to overwhelm him. The image of Sendak sitting in the royal box, laughing and cheering with the rest of the ship as his fellow prisoners slaughter each other.  The smell of blood and being beaten into the dirt feel so real at that moment.

The _fear_ feels so real at that moment.

He shoves it down before it can be too much. He can’t afford to fail right now. He thinks about Lance and Keith and Adam and everyone else who _needs_ him right now and he pushes the memories back into a little box to deal with later.

“Stand aside.” Sendak’s voice is deep and commanding, demanding to be obeyed.

Once upon a time, Takashi followed his orders. Now, he grits his teeth and settles into a fighting stance that has become as ingrained into his bones as the way to fly a plane or the deep aching warmth he gets whenever he thinks about Adam's smile.

 _“No.”_ Takashi takes great pleasure in watching Sendak's face morph into a scowl as his arm activates with bright purple heat. “You’re _not_ getting inside.”

Slowly, Sendak’s lips spread into a smile that looks more like he's bearing his teeth than anything else. His large purple ears lie flat against his skull and for a moment, Takashi feels like prey.

 _“Oh,_ but I am.”

He moves faster than Takashi can react. With a crackle of purple lightning and metal, he’s sprawled across the ground at Sendak’s feet, dragged forward by the hulking prosthetic of an arm that’s as big as Takashi is tall.

He’s rolling back to his feet before he’s stopped moving and the ground next to him explodes with the force of Sendak’s fist.

Takashi dances out of his range before lunging back at him, swinging at the metal of Sendak’s left arm.

The fight lasts seconds, but to Takashi, it feels like hours. The way Sendak pushes at him relentlessly quickly tires him out.

Blow. Dodge. Swing. Dodge. Hit. Roll. Swipe.

Takashi goes in for a punch to Sendak's stupid furry face, but he blocks it with ease. His eyes narrowing in a way that Takashi might’ve said was impressed.

His glittering robotic eye gleams across the glowing galra prosthetic straining against Sendak’s strength.

“I see you’ve spent time with the Druids,” he observes. Takashi keeps his face carefully neutral, refusing to give anything away. “Lady Haggar and her brood do _love_ their experiments.” Sendak’s face turns wolfish and it becomes harder for Takashi to keep Sendak’s arm at bay. “Too bad you didn’t get the _latest model.”_

With that, Sendak suddenly draws his arm back, causing Takashi to stumble forward before his fist lands solidly against his sternum and pushes him back through the hallway.

Pain explodes in his chest and Takashi can’t breathe for a moment. He spins end over end as he tumbles back down the hallway.

He lands with a wheeze and black dots dancing in his vision.

It takes everything in him just to push himself back to his feet.

He doesn’t dare look to where Lance is hidden, doesn’t dare check on her in case they find her. he keeps his back to her and eyes ahead, falling into a protective stance.

He promised Hunk he’d keep her safe. He promised himself he'd keep her safe. And _damn_ if he's going to lose his team again.

Sendak’s running at him and Takashi only has a second to duck before there’s the gauntlet soaring above his head. He swipes at Sendak’s chest but misses.

For someone so large, Sendak is unnervingly quick on his feet.

He tries pushing Sendak back towards the entrance. He also tries keeping himself between Sendak and Lance which makes it harder than it already was and provides a weakness Sendak doesn’t hesitate to exploit.

The galra Commander doesn’t take long to notice how Takashi keeps himself firmly planted between him and a seemingly random piece of wall, even at the cost of losing ground.

Sendak’s toying with him, feigning left and right around him until his breath is coming out in harsh pants and his movements are slow. Eventually, the Commander tires of it, and swats him away like a pesky fly.

Takashi crashes against a wall, his head slamming back against the unyielding metal and making him yelp.

He pushes himself back up, desperate to get back to Sendak. But the second he’s on his feet he freezes.

Sendak holds Lance in front of him like a broken doll. His gauntlet wrapped around her upper body as he lets her hang limply.

Takashi takes a step forward without thinking and the hand around Lance’s chest _squeezes._ A broken whine tears itself from Lance’s throat and Takashi stops dead in his tracks.

“Ah, ah! Stand down or your friend here is as good as dead.”

Takashi grits his teeth. Every muscle in his body tense and angry as he raises his arms in surrender. He hears a _whoosh_ behind him and then his world goes black as pain explodes from the back of his head.

***

Not a second after Katie steps out of Keone, does the Lion spring upwards and leap into the air, heedless of the small girl who’d yet to get out of the way.

Katie covers her face from the wind, nearly getting bowled over by the force of it. Rover is sent flying several feet before he can right himself again.

She’d be upset at Hunk’s reckless flying in different circumstances, but she can hardly blame him right then.

She moves towards the swinging hangar doors, ready to book it to her own hangar when she catches a flash of purple out of the corner of her eye. A feeling of dread pools in her stomach as she raises her head to where Keone just left.

A particle barrier stands against the night sky. Purple and glitching wildly before falling into some semblance of stability.

It takes only a second for Katie’s brain to realize the implications of this and what it means for her and the ship.

It takes another second for her to cram her panic into a bottle so she can think clearly and deal with the problem in front of her. She's suddenly very glad they sent the former prisoners home a few days ago.

 _“Well. At least now you can’t leave me,”_ Digit tells her nervously but with a hint of actual joy hidden within the worry.

Katie drags a hand down her face, unwilling to deal with _that_ in the midst of her current crisis _._ “Come on, Rover. I guess we have a Castle to save.”

***

Keith pounds on the particle barrier, his forearms stinging from where he keeps slamming them against the unyielding energy shield. Anger and frustration bubble in his chest and he has to bite back a snarling growl that threatens to explode from his chest.

He shoves the urge deep down and locks it in a chest where he keeps every other weird thing he wants to but shouldn’t do.

Allura’s not much better. Her face is twisted in disbelief and fury as she punches and claws at the barrier.

“No! No, no, no, _no!”_ she roars.

Keith steps back with a snarl and summons his bayard, the weight of the sword heavy in his palm as he draws back his arm to strike.

“Wait!” Allura grabs his wrist. Her grip isn’t painful but he’s suddenly reminded that she’s seven feet of pure strength and she is also _very_ angry right now. “It won’t work.”

Keith glares at her. “Won’t know until we try.”

“Keith, _no._ You’ll only injure yourself.”

“What other choice do we have?” he shouts, stabbing his sword into the ground in frustration when she lets him go.

Allura looks up, her long ears pulled back like a cat’s and twitching in irritation. “We need to find a way inside. Whoever has taken over the Castle has a crystal, which means they can take off. We can’t let that happen.”

“And how exactly are we supposed to stop them?” Keith asks, throwing his arms out at his sides. “If you hadn’t noticed, we’re kind of on the wrong side of an indestructible barrier.”

Allura grits her teeth, purple irises flashing in the moonlight. _“I know.”_

Keith opens his mouth to say something else when Pidge’s voice crackles to life through the comms, cutting him off. Relief floods through his chest at the sound of her.

_ “Keith? Can you hear me?” _ Her voice is a whisper but she comes through loud and clear.

“Pidge?” he calls, “Yeah we can hear you. Where are you?”

_ “I’m inside. Sendak’s invaded the Castle, he’s got some sentries with him and another galra.”  _ Pidge pauses, her voice hesitant and fearful.  _ “They’re holding Lance and Shiro hostage.” _

Panic and fear explode inside his chest. He  _ can’t _ lose Shiro again. He just got him back.

Allura taps her communicators slash diamond earrings, voice filled with the authority she commanded back on her home planet. Keith straightens in response automatically before realizing he’s being ridiculous.

“Have they started the launch sequence?”

It’s quiet for a moment on Pidge’s end which Keith assumes to mean that she’s checking. _ “No. Not yet. But they’re not far off.” _

Allura’s shoulders loosen a fraction, a sliver of relief breaking through the tenseness of her spine. “Okay. We’re working with a bit more time than I expected. You’re going to need you to go to the main engine control panel and disconnect the primary turbine from the Central Energy Chamber. If you do that, Sendak will have to reset the whole system. It’ll buy us enough time to get inside."

_ “You got it. Central Energy Chamber, done. I’ll call you back when I get there.” _

“Be careful.” “Don’t get caught.” Allura and Keith say at the same time.

Pidge scoffs and he gets the feeling that she just rolled her eyes at them.  _ “Will do. Pidge out.” _

***

Coran screams as Keone goes crashing down a mineshaft, succeeding in giving Hunk ear damage as well as scaring the hell out of him. It’s completely unfair. Hunk would very much like to scream as well but he’s too busy focusing on not letting them crash into metal beams or the quarry walls.

Hunk didn't know what was wrong with her. They’d just made it through the atmosphere and suddenly she was falling from the sky without explanation or reason. It’s terrifying, the way she just went quiet in his mind and then suddenly the brunt of the in-flight controls were his to manage.

His co-pilot just went silent and Hunk _panics._

He tries to keep her from crashing into the rocks at the bottom of the quarry and damage her more but there’s only so much he can do to stop a ten-ton robot cat from slamming into the ground. Coran goes flying off his feet at the impact, flailing wildly as he lands in a heap.

For a second everything is silent. The in-cabin lights are dim and the controls aren’t responding at _all_ anymore.

“Keone? Sweetheart? Are you there?” he asks nervously.

He gets a little more than a weak purr in the back of his mind. Which, well, just _proves_ that she is most definitely _not_ okay because if there is one thing his Lion is, it’s a chatterbox. But he nods, his hands wringing nervously in front of him as he turns to Coran who’s still face down on the floor.

“Uh… Coran? You good, man?”

“I’m about as good as I’ll ever be, Number One!” he says, voice muffled but oddly still as chipper as it always is.

“Do you… want to get up? Maybe?”

He moves so quickly it nearly sends Hunk flying out of his seat in surprise. One moment the alien is motionless on the floor and the next he’s standing back up and pushing his face into Hunk’s at an uncomfortable degree. “Of course! A wonderful suggestion, my boy!”

Hunk looks at him worriedly. Maybe he hit his head? Or is this how Coran always acts? He hasn’t spent much time with the older alien in the past weeks. He’d mostly been sticking close to Lance and sometimes Pidge. Following them around half out of comfort and half in terror either might suddenly disappear and leave him here alone.

Hunk very carefully doesn’t think about how the latter is far more likely than he’s comfortable with it ever being. He also carefully doesn’t think about how he’ll have to get used to this kind of thing because they’re in the middle of a _war_ now and this is his new normal.

Hunk is trying very hard to not start hyperventilating.

The yellow glowing eyes staring at him from the darkness of the tunnel are not helping him at _all._ Panic jack-knifes in his chest as he starts thinking about all the horrors that could be lurking down here in the depths of an alien planet, his imagination going haywire.

 _“Calm down… my dear,”_ Keone says, her tired voice cutting off his scream before it leaves his mouth. _“The people of this… planet are friends. They are of the earth.”_

“Keone?”

She takes a shuddering breath in his mind, echoed by her settling more firmly into the earth. Her voice is raspy and slurred like she’s on the brink of passing out. _“Trust them. You will be safe.”_

And with that, the cabin lights fall back on emergency power and Keone goes completely silent. Only the vaguely warm thrumming in his navel assuring him she’s still there. That she hasn’t left him.

Hunk is still scared out of his wits but… Keone wouldn’t put him in danger. Steeling himself, he pushes out of the chair and, along with Coran, exits the Lion.

They emerge from her maw at the same time the creatures step into the dim light of the mineshaft.

For a second Hunk thinks he’s looking at living, bipedal rocks. Wide flat faces, short horns sprouting from both their foreheads and jaw with grey, ridged looking skin. The pair stand taller than Hunk and are far broader than he is, looking as if either could easily crush Hunk between their long, bulky hands.

But they don’t seem particularly threatening. The way they hold themselves seems almost docile.

The smaller of the two, the one with bone or ivory earrings hanging from two cone-like… Hunk is gonna guess they’re ears?--gasps at the sight of them. Their large glowing eyes widen, seeming to glow in the dimness.

“Skylings, Rax!” Their voice is raspy and feminine sounding. The translation makes them sound almost old fashioned. Like those old Victorian movies Nalani likes so much. “The Lion! Do you think?”

“The Lions are just shadow show, Shay,” the taller one says despite staring at Keone in disbelief and awe.

The sound of engines above them draws the group of four’s attention. When Hunk sees the galra patrol following them down, the panic from before comes back full force. His eyes go wild as he looks around in vain for a place to hide. Keone’s out in the open and they have no way to move her.

The galra are going to get her and it will be _his fault_ that they lost Voltron.

Desperately, he steps towards the aliens. “Please! You have to help us.”

The taller narrows their eyes. “We don’t have to do anything.”

“Rax!”

Hunk grows more desperate; the panic makes it hard to breathe and his voice breaks as he begs. There’s too much that he cares about on the line to give a damn about some pride he never had anyway. _“Please!_ The galra can’t have her! They’ll- They’ll abuse her!”

“And kill us!” Coran pipes up.

Shay looks alarmed at the very thought before something determined settles across their features. They pull Rax down with them, pressing both their hands into the rock below them. Rax looks at them angrily but seems to do whatever it was Shay wanted because in the next moment a soft blue light begins to spread outwards from the contact.

Something deep inside Hunk’s mind instinctively recognizes it as magic. The more rational part of his brain quickly starts calling him an utter _lunatic_ for even thinking of the _idea._ The cognitive dissonance of the whole thing bangs like a gong in his mind, the otherworldliness fighting with his previous worldview.

The feeling only gets worse when he follows the light and sees Keone sinking beneath the hard rock under his feet as easily as if it were nothing more than water.

Hunk briefly wonders if maybe he’s just gone insane and this is all an elaborate hallucination. It’s a comforting thought.

Just before Hunk can really start panicking, Keone’s eyes flash gold and she starts purring reassuringly in his head. A clear message of _it’ll be okay._

Hunk doesn’t start moving again until Shay shoves him down a connecting tunnel, pushing him and Coran inside seconds before the patrol passes behind them.

His heart doesn’t stop beating like a rabbit in his chest even after the worst of the danger has passed. An itch at the base of his spine keeps him on edge and he places his hand on the wall to steady himself.

“Thank you,” he says as sincerely as possible as he tries to stop himself from throwing up. His Mama drilled manners into his brain and a few weeks away from Earth is hardly enough to knock them out of him.

Shay smiles, their sharp teeth glinting in the low light as they tilt their head in an odd sort of half bow. “Of course. Anything for the Guardian of Balmera!”

Hunk blinks at them.

Shay tilts their head, looking oddly disappointed. Rax scowls over their shoulder. “Are you not of Voltron?”

“Uh. No, I am. I just… I’m not a Guardian? I think you have me confused with someone else. I’ve never even been to this planet before.”

Shay laughs at him. “You are the Gold Paladin, Guardian of Planets and Rock. You are most revered as a friend to our Balmera. It is why she so quickly answer your call for help.” They point to his hand on the wall. “You are of the Balmera as much as we.”

Hunk turns to see what they’re pointing at and quickly snatches his arm back from the wall as if it had burned him. He looks frantically between his hand and the wall as if just staring at it for long enough will explain to him why _the fuck_ his hand was glowing like Shay and Rax’s had been.

Does this mean he’s _magic?_

The thought makes Hunk short circuit.

He whirls to Coran, a helpless string of incomprehensible sounds spilling from his mouth as he gestures wildly at his hand. He hopes Coran understands the level of panic Hunk is reaching here. It’s a miracle he hasn’t passed out from high blood pressure or had a stress heart attack or _something_.

Not to self: space is not good for your mental health.

Coran looks at him, waffling for a moment before giving him a sheepish little grin that reminds him of Lance. “Ah, yes well. The young lady isn’t wrong exactly. There are many names for what you are, my boy, but… Guardian of Earth, or whatever planet we’re on, is the most common I suppose.”

Hunk makes another frustrated noise that doesn’t strictly mean anything, but Coran understands anyway.

“Well, I wasn’t meant to tell you! It’s your Lion’s duty to explain the intricacies of the bond and its… effects. Anyone who isn’t a paladin doesn't know much about it I’m afraid. It’s a closely guarded secret, you know. Wouldn’t want the enemy to be able to take advantage of a Lion’s bond, now would we?”

Something flashes across Coran’s face before it’s replaced by his trademark dazzling smile. Hunk thinks it might’ve been worry or fear. The idea sits like lead in his stomach.

Hunk babbles a little more before stumbling through a coherent sentence. “Wait, are you telling me I’m connected to the _dirt_ through my Lion? Wha- Why? _How?”_

 Coran gives him a look. “Ignoring that fact that I _just told you_ non-Paladins know very little about how the bond functions; I believe it’s that your Lions have special connections to the universe, and through your bond with them, so do you. It’s very ancient magic, not many people still understand or believe in it. Fewer still can wield it as Paladins can.”

Coran rubs his chin thoughtfully. “Though, normally young paladins don’t show such signs of the bond until much later…” he grins brightly, slapping Hunk hard on the back and almost toppling him. “You should be proud of yourself, my boy! This means your connection to the Yellow Lion is even more powerful than we believed!”

“Joy,” Hunk says dazedly. Then stands up straight realizing something. “Wait! Is _that_ why the arusians worshiped us? Because we’re _magic?_ ” Hunk doesn’t shriek, but it’s a near thing. The balmerans might flinch from the noise, Hunk isn’t sure. He’s too busy trying to corral his racing thoughts.

“Well, you didn’t think the arusians just gave you those fancy titles for laughs, did you?” Coran chuckles like he isn’t single-handedly shattering Hunk’s entire worldview with only a few words.

“I just thought it was symbolic or hero worship or something!”

“That isn’t untrue. But yes, some planets believe Voltron to be… well,” Coran shrugs, weighing his hands. “gods and the such.”

Hunk grasps at his hair, fingers digging into his scalp and grounding him. “Oh my god. How can you talk for hours on end about the great battles and achievements of the Paladins of Old, but you don’t even _think_ to mention _the magic?”_

Coran huffs. “I told you, it is not I who is meant to tell you. And besides, learning of the bonds intricacies before you’re ready can be… overwhelming. I had hoped it would be some time before you had to know.”

“Oh my god.” Hunk drags a hand down his face, grabbing at the threads of his fraying composure. “When we fix this crisis, we are _so_ having a conversation about this.”

Coran shrugs, unconcerned and Hunk feels like exploding in frustration. _No_ , that is not an overreaction. Hunk is perfectly valid, _thank you very much._

***

She _screams._

Whimpers and sobs tear themselves from her throat as she thrashes in the darkness of this not-place. The void hisses and spits vitriol at her like bitter poison. Agony claws at her skin and digs into her bones, tearing her from the inside out and leaving her as shredded flesh and charred muscle.

Her voice has long since gone hoarse.

Still, she _screams_.

She fights to rise to the surface. Break free from the drowning prison and for a moment it seems to work. She fights through the pain and the world turns grey. She thinks someone picks her up.

She doesn’t know what happens after that but suddenly she’s _falling_ and she can’t breathe and the world is agony and falling and flames that eat away at her mind.

She _screams._

The Nothing is dark. The Nothing is cold. The Nothing is… peaceful.

The flames are dulled. Burning but numb, as if there is no more of her to burn.

Nothing more to take.

She floats for minutes-hours-days. She doesn’t know.

Time is meaningless.

There is only the Nothing and herself.

Even the whale song and waves and thunder are gone. That… makes her… sad? Why is she sad?

Why? Why? Why?

Why… not?

Why not… keep falling?

The further she goes, the less pain there is. The void smothers the flames that bite and lick at her, leaving her with balmy blisters and red scratches.

Her mind feels sluggish down here. Thoughts scattered around her like stardust. It’s very pretty here in the Nothing.

Her heartbeat slows and her eyelids droop.

Would it be bad? To rest… just for a little bit. For… a while.

The pain dulls and the void feels like a hug from an old friend.

She sinks into it.

Then, she _screams._

Something yanks her back up into the watery grey and the flames are an inferno once more.

She thrashes more than she thought she could with melted skin and charred bones. She screams and fights and falls apart, drunk on the agony coursing through her veins.

She almost misses the gray figure standing before her, feminine and curvy and barely there at the edges.

She thinks the figure might touch her cheek but it’s hard to feel anything other than the flames as she _burns._

 _“There are still so many things for you to do, little one. You must fight. Your story cannot end before it has even begun.”_ The figure leans in and through her deliriousness, she thinks she sees kaleidoscope eyes before something soft and cool presses against her forehead. _“You will be_ mighty.”

Lance doesn’t sink back down into the black, but her pain lessens anyway. Her fiery agony dulling into a sharp throbbing.

The figure is gone by the time she opens her eyes.

***

Katie makes it to the Central Energy Chamber without any problems, her luck holding true. Coran had taken her here last week when they were running the tests to make sure it was working properly. A good thing, because that means she’s already geeked out over the suspended, miniaturized star core they use as a turbine and can get down to business without distractions.

It also means she has a basic understanding of how it even _works,_ which means she shouldn’t blow it up which is nice.

It’d be anticlimactic if she got blown up by a mini star going supernova.

Katie walks along the catwalk to the main control panel, Rover tagging along happily. There’s a point where he twirls out over the edge of the railing and Katie has to stop herself from trying to grab him. The thought of him crashing into the abyss below them making her heart pound nervously.

“Okay, I’m by the turbine, Allura,” she updates, popping open the hatch and poking around the inside.

_ “Fantastic!”  _ Allura praises, her voice sounding relieved.  _ “Now, open the hatch and find the central computer control hub and enter the following sequence…” _

“Hold up! All the labels are in Altean!”

_ “The- blank- blue turtle- Pidge?” _   Crackling overtakes the communicator and Katie whips her head up to look at the turbine, finding it arcing with energy and making angry crackling noises.

She does not panic.

She does, however, frantically try contacting Allura for a little longer than is probably wise for the situation.

“Allura? I can’t tell which one it is! _Allura!”_ Katie growls her frustration to the ceiling. She starts poking at things in the hub, thinking she might be lucky enough to happen upon how to shut it down.

The crackling gets louder and Katie is hyper-aware of how much time she has.

_She does not panic._

“How the fuck am I supposed to deactivate it if I can’t even _read_ any of it?” she shouts.

 _“There is more than one way to stop something from starting,”_ Digit purrs in her mind, mischief and humor coating her voice. Katie gets the feeling her Lion is flicking her tail in amusement.

Katie’s eyebrows furrow. “What are you-”

She bolts upright, a slow grin sliding across her face as understanding hits her. “Well, I suppose that’s one way to do things,” she says pulling out her bayard and considering it. Finally, she shrugs, eyes sparkling with mischief. “Here goes nothing.”

She slams her hand into the hub system, her bayard crackling with electricity.

A second after she does it, she realizes she could’ve _maybe_ thought this through better.

Katie’s blown backward by the electricity, her entire arm sparking and tingling with the numbed sensation of pins and needles. Her shoulder feels like it’s on _fire_. She gasps at the pain and goes tumbling back down the catwalk.

It’s pure dumb luck she doesn’t go over the edge and fall to her death.

Rover beeps worriedly, rapid chirps that overlap with Digit’s own fearful chirp-whines. Groaning, she pushes herself to her elbows, her right arm protesting angrily.

 _“Holy shit,”_ she says quietly but with feeling.

Digit huffs. _“For a genius, you are an_ idiot.”

“Hey!” she protests, her chest aching as she snaps. “You told me to do it!”

 _“I_ never _said that,”_ her Lion says haughtily. _“And if I did, I didn’t tell you to_ stick your hand in it!”

Katie grunts, pushing herself unsteadily to her feet. She needs to move. Someone will eventually come down here to see why the turbine isn’t working and Katie would rather be literally anywhere else when that happens. “Maybe you should be more clear next time.”

Digit growls good-naturedly. _“And they say my paladins are supposed to be the_ smart _ones.”_

Katie makes the obligatory offended noises before going quiet to stave off the pain in her chest. After this is all over she’s going to force Allura to give her more of that miracle cream because like _hell_ she’s doing training with a bruise the size of Texas on her side.

***

“He enslaved your entire planet?” Hunk asks breathlessly. His eyes travel around the fire, meeting the glowing yellow of the Balmerans in disbelief.

Colril, Shay and Rax’s father, shrugs sadly and stares down at their soup bowl. “Zarkon may rule, but he allows us our family. _That_ is what truly matters in the end.”

“I guess…” Hunk responds hesitantly, thinking of his Mama and Tina and his sister and _all_ his little brothers. His heart feels heavy in his chest when he thinks about how worried they must be. The soup bowl tilts dangerously as his hands tighten around it unconsciously.

“You are without your family.” It’s not a question. Not the way Mal, their elder, says it.

Hunk tries smiling but it feels hollow even to him. “Ah, well. Saving the universe means sacrifices, right? I have Lance…” _don’t think about it,_ “But, yes. The rest of them are far away. Safe.”

Shay, who was knelt on the ground next to him places a comforting hand on Hunk’s knee. “To be without one’s kin is a terrible fate. I am sorry you live in such sorrow, Guardian.”

“ _We_ will live in such sorrow if they are discovered!” Rax snaps, putting their cave bug soup down harshly.

Amel, the mother, grabs one of their tusks, giving a gentle but sharp yank. “Rax! Show the Guardian respect! We are most honored to house him.”

Rax bares their teeth at Amel who growls right back. “Respect? This _Guardian_ has left us to suffer for years and returns only to cause trouble and _take._ Everyone comes here to take, Mother, but they never give! Our Balmera is dying!”

Hunk sits up. “What?”

The balmerans turn sorrowful, their eyes downcast to the rock below their feet. Shay rests their palm into it lovingly, like a gentle caress.

“Long ago, those who took the Balmera's crystals would replenish her with energy. It was an equal exchange as is the way of the universe.” Their hand tightens into a fist a look of pain and sorrow overtaking their face. Hunk is scared they might start crying. “But the Galra do not believe in _equality_. They take more than she can give and now we must watch as she perishes before our eyes.”

A sad moaning fills the cave, echoed by a similar cry in Hunk’s mind. Keone wails along with her dear friend, a sorrow so painful settles into his chest it makes him breathless for a moment.

“I’m so sorry.” His mouth is dry and it feels like too little. The words too small to encompass all he wants to say, all that they deserve to hear. But it’s all he has to offer; all he can understand.

Rax stands up, apparently fed up with the conversation. It also gets them far enough away from Amel that they can’t grab them again. Rax’s face is twisted into a scowl and their chest rumbles with the thunderous timber of their voice. “If you were sorry, you would _leave_. Every second you stay, we are in more danger!”

“And I am sorry for that.” Hunk’s hands tighten around the bowl and he grits his teeth to keep from lashing out. “But I _can’t._ Lance, my best friend, is injured. _Seriously_ injured. That crystal, it’s the only way we can save her. If we don’t get it…” _don’t think about it!_ “We have to get it.”

He turns pleading eyes to all of them, letting the fear and worry and pain threatening to suffocate him rise to the surface. “I can’t lose her. She’s all I have left of home. _Please.”_

The balmerans look at him with a mixture of pity and grief in their eyes so thick it takes all of his will power not to look away.

When Hunk looks to Rax, the balmeran falters for a moment, staring at Hunk with something unreadable in their expression. Their eyes flick to Shay before they grit their teeth, speaking as if it physically pains them. “What kind of crystal is it that you need, Guardian?”

“A battleship class,” Coran answers because Hunk has no idea.

Colril looks surprised and then worried. “That is most rare. The galra hoard them jealousy. I am… not sure you would be able to obtain one.”

Hunk’s heart clenches in his chest painfully tight. It feels hard to breathe.

The panic must show on his face because Shay places their hand back on his knee, giving him a gentle squeeze. “There is one almost excavated. You could take that.” Their voice is soft and hopeful when they speak to him. Calm and sure like the mountains and Hunk finds himself relaxing despite himself.

“And what of the galra that guard it?” Rax asks not unkindly. More realistic. Which is fair honestly, Hunk just wishes Rax would let him enjoy his hope before crushing it with reality. “Or the ones that wait in the skies for their Lion ship? Their quest is in vain, sister.”

Coran places a hand on his shoulder. “We’ll figure something out, Hunk. Lance will be fine. Come on, you should go check on your Lion.”

Hunk nods. Sitting next to Keone is something he desperately needs right now. Her steady presence and calming aura will make it easier to push Lance’s mangled form from his mind and focus on the here and now.

***

Katie shimmies through the vents, trying to make it to the generator room but it’s slow going. Her arm keeps acting up, not enough for her to be worried--probably--but it’s twinging in a way that’s starting to get annoying.

She decides she’s stealing the miracle cream from Allura when she gets the chance.

Rover floats in front of her and beeps encouragingly, zipping along and keeping track of where they are in the vent system. It doesn’t leave her with much to do and after she gets bored of humming the Mission Impossible theme song, her mind starts to wander.

After a while, she turns to thoughts of her family.

“Rover, have I ever told you about my Dad?”

The bot in question tilts to the side curiously, almost like a dog’s head. It makes her smile, bolstering her into speaking.

“He’s amazing. He’s got three Ph.D.’s and was working on his fourth when they recruited him for the Kerberos Mission. You should’ve seen him! He couldn’t sit still for a whole week and would talk about it to anyone who would listen.” Katie huffs a laugh. “And Matt-- _oh, Matt_ \--he was _so_ much worse. When they finally told him he was going too I think he screamed for five straight minutes. He almost passed out.”

Rover beeps musically, almost like a laugh.

“Yeah. They’re insane. They were so _excited_ to prove alien life existed… and I guess they did in the end.” Katie pauses for a moment, faltering.

Rover nudges her forehead gently and Digit starts purring warmly. “Mom was worried about them going. So was I.” she says in a small voice. “It’s dangerous, of course it is, but it was such a big opportunity and they were so excited and _proud_ and… we supported them. _Of course_ we supported them.

“And with Shiro piloting the ship, we thought nothing could go wrong. Sure, Shiro was young but he was the best pilot of his time. People heralded him like a Messiah.”

Katie shakes her head.

“Matt and he clicked almost immediately. At first, I couldn’t understand why. Shiro was just so _different_ from Matt! But I’ll tell you a secret.” Katie's voice drops to a whisper, a conspiratorial grin on her face. “Shiro’s actually a closet nerd.”

Rover chirps disbelievingly and Digit snorts in her mind.

“I’m serious! You would not _believe_ the stupid things that can come out of his mouth. He was like a second Matt. It was _horrible._ ”

Rover beep-chirps a little tune.

“Actually, yeah, he’s a lot like Lance too. Lance is just more open about her dumbassery than Shiro.”

Katie stills in the vent, a thought making itself known.

_“Oh no.”_

She looks up at Rover with a deadly serious expression mixed with fear.

“We _cannot_ let Matt and Lance anywhere _near_ each other. The universe would implode with that amount of fucking stupid in the same room.” She looks down at her hands, vaguely horrified.

“ _God._ There would be so many stupid pick-up lines and bad jokes and they’d think they were _hilarious.”_ She puts her head in her hands, making a pitiful whine in the back of her throat.

Rover chirp-laughs at her because he is programmed with betrayal and apathy. She glared icily at the bot who remained unaffected.

Slowly, her glare droops and a frown settles back on her lips.

“They’d get along great…” she looks back up at Rover, contemplative.

“You know… My dad always told me his team was like a family. I didn’t understand what he was trying to say when he first told me that but… Now? I think I’m starting to.”

Katie’s eyes harden, steeled determination replacing the soft nostalgia that was once there.

“I’m not losing any more family. Not to the galra. They’ve taken enough from me. They won’t take this too.”

***

The rumbling purr of Keone does indeed soothe his mind despite its softness. The Balmera resurfaced her head in one of the abandoned tunnels where Hunk had spent the last half hour sitting at her cheek and petting her snout, calming himself with mountain song and answers.

She’s hesitant to say anything on the subject, believing it to not be ‘the right time’ and that they ‘should wait for her sisters.’

But, well… Hunk’s stubborn as a rock and Keone is soft when it comes to her paladins. He soon finds himself with halting explanations. There are things she dances around, things she very carefully doesn’t tell him, and Hunk _burns_ with curiosity, the questions dancing on the tip of his tongue.

But he swallows them. He’s been Lance’s friend for years and he knows a losing battle when he sees one.

She’s a millennia-year-old warship, born of science and magic. He’s hardly going to outsmart her just because she has a soft spot for him.

He learns that there is ancient magic that binds them to the planets and the rocks and earth. The connection bolsters them, makes them stronger and steadfast like the rocks they guard.

Hunk wants to ask what she means by ‘guard’ but knows he won’t get an answer. Not one he likes anyway.

The reason Keone went down earlier is that the connection goes both ways. Normally, the planets have enough energy on their own, but this Balmera is sick and dying. When Keone got close enough, the Balmera borrowed her energy and strength, on reflex. It left Keone drained, but she was slowly regaining her power.

She would be alright.

When he asks further about the bond and the magic--god he’s going insane--tying him to the earth and what it means for him, she pauses for such a long time Hunk thinks she won’t answer him. That she’s tired of his prying questions she so obviously doesn’t want to answer.

 _“The bond that ties us together has many effects; some are more… jarring than others. But believe me, love, that I will never hurt you or put you in harm's way with_ any _part of the bond. I need you as much as you need me. There are intricacies of the connections that cannot be explained. They must be shown or experienced. And even if I could tell you… you are not ready. Merely a cub.”_

Hunk opens his mouth to protest.

 _“No,”_ Keone growls softly. A warning. _“You are not ready. You will learn in due time, my paladin. Until then, you must trust me.”_

Hunk stares into her liquid gold eyes, ancient and knowledgeable in ways he can never understand. This great being that is so much _more._ He wishes he could say he was skeptical. Wishes he could say he thought twice, that he doubted.

“Of course.”

Maybe it’s the magic. Or maybe what she says is true. Maybe it’s both.

But Hunk trusts her.

For better or for worse.

A gasp from behind him sends Hunk whirling around to find Shay standing a few steps down the tunnel. Their hand is raised to their lips as they gaze at Keone in awe.

Keone tilts her head toward Shay, who jumps in place when their gazes lock.

“Oh, hello,” Hunk greets. Shay doesn’t take their eyes off of Keone. “It’s alright. She’s not going to hurt you, right?”

His Lion sounds almost offended that he even asked. _“Of course not! The child is of my realm, my earth. They are safer here with me than anywhere else.”_

Hunk blinks at her. “I’m not going to translate that because it’s weird and I don’t understand what you mean other than it’s safe.” He turns back to Shay. “Would you like to touch her?”

It’s the first time Shay looks at him since entering the cave. “Could I truly?”

“Yeah.” Hunk nods encouragingly, jerking his head toward Keone. “Come on.”

Hesitantly, Shay steps forward. When they get close enough, Hunk gently takes their hand, smiling encouragingly. Slowly, he places it on Keone’s snout and watches as a smile spreads across Shay’s face. They look at their hand in awe, teeth glinting in the low light.

“You feel like our Balmera,” they whisper, awed by the situation.

Keone chuckles in Hunk’s mind, the rumbling echoing up their arms through the metal. _“I_ am _your Balmera, sweet one.”_

Hunk decides to leave unpacking that statement for later.

“You are very lucky, Guardian,” Shay tells him after a long moment of silence.

“What?” He looks at them confused about where their mind wandered. “Why?”

Shay chuckles and Hunk is captivated by the way it makes them light up, even in the dark of the tunnel. It lifts the worry and weight from their shoulders and makes them seem young.

“To fly in such a powerful machine to worlds unknown. To be chosen by the earth itself and fly in the sky… Tell me, what does it look like?” They look up at the cave ceiling as if they can see past it. “Do colors really dance in the sky? Are diamonds truly hidden in the clouds?”

“You’ve… never seen the sky?”

Shay looks at him like he’s an idiot before catching themself and looking away embarrassed.

“Of course not. There is another, Angar, who helps bring the crystals above ground. He tells me sometimes, but… I wish to see it myself.” Their voice drops to a whisper and they lean down so they’re on his level, like they’re sharing a secret. “Sometimes, I’ll sneak up as high as I dare, and imagine what it’s like.”

Hunk stares at them, his heart sinking in his chest. He wants to understand, wants to comfort them but doesn't know how. Doesn’t even know where to begin. “It doesn’t have to be like this.”

They look at him confused. “Like what?”

“You could be free. No, you _will_ be free.” He grabs their other hand. “I promise you.”

Shay huffs a disbelieving breath, shaking their head like he’s making some joke. “You speak nonsense.”

“It’s not nonsense,” he insists. “After I save my friend, I’ll come back. I’ll bring the others. Voltron. We’ll come back, and we’ll save you.”

“But… how?” Shay looks at him sadly, as if his hope makes them tired. “Zarkon controls all. He is all-powerful.”

“No! You’re wrong. Back where I’m from, my planet had never even _heard_ of Zarkon. There are thousands of planets out there that have never heard of the galra.”

Shay’s eyes widen. “A place without galra?”

Hunk nods.

Shay blinks, a slow smile spreading across their face just imagining it. Hunk can’t help but grin too.

“Stop filling this one’s head with shadow show, Guardian!”

The pair jump, Hunk dropping Shay’s hands on instinct. Rax stalks forward and grabs Shay’s wrist, moving to drag them away. They keep their feet firmly planted, refusing to budge.

“Rax, please!”

 _“No,_ Shay,” they say forcefully, giving another tug on their wrist. “He fills your head with useless fairy dreams. Our homes are the caverns, this will not change.” Rax glares at Hunk. “No matter the sweet lies he tells you. Now, come.”

Shay opens their mouth to say something, anything, but Rax turns their glare on them and their mouth snaps shut before plodding along behind their brother sadly. They send one last look to Hunk before disappearing around the bend.

Hunk stands there, staring after them for a long time. Something heavy sits in his stomach and he wonders.

***

Katie has to admit, watching the galra idiot blow himself with the turbine because he was too cocky to check for sabotage is cathartic. They know she’s on the ship, they have to with the Castle’s cameras and how she messed with this room once already.

_Idiots._

They believe themselves so powerful they are unbeatable.

 _“The bigger the foe, the harder they fall,”_ Matt used to tell her.

Katie finds that she can’t _wait_ to see them fall.

Rover drops her to the ground gently a few feet away from the galra’s sprawled form. She tilts her head as she looks at him, crispy and burned as he is.

“You’re the one causing all the trouble?” he coughs, a grimace on his face as he pushes himself up. “A _child?”_

Katie’s face hardens. “I’m not a _child,”_ she spits, raising her chin challengingly. “I’m a Paladin of Voltron.”

The galra laughs wetly, a sound that seems to hurt him more than anything. “Is the Resistance so desperate that they send child warriors to fight their battles?”

Digit yowls in the back of her mind and it’s only at the last second that Katie stops herself from echoing her.

“Well, let me tell you something, _child.”_ He raises himself to his feet, unsteady and snarling. Katie scowls at him. _“I_ am a soldier of the Galra Empire. Nothing stops me but triumph…” He pulls a dagger from his belt, “or _death.”_

He lunges at her faster than should be possible for the injuries he seemed to have. She barely raises her hand in time to block the blow he aimed at her head.

He doesn’t stop pushing at her. She moves farther and farther backward. He’s slow and injured but he’s strong. stronger than her anyway. And more experienced.

She’s quick and smart and her mind _whirls_ for options but it’s more preoccupied with keeping her alive at that moment than outsmarting the galra. Katie is so focused on avoiding blows that it’s not until she nearly steps onto empty air that she realizes how close to the edge she’d gotten.

The galra knocks her down, raising his blade above her menacingly and Katie stares up in fear.

“Nowhere left to run. Nowhere left to _hide,”_ he mocks pityingly and Katie’s fear and panic are burned away by her _anger._

Rover rams into the galra’s shoulder, distracting him and Katie grabs at the chance. She disconnects the knife’s head from her bayard’s base and slides under the galra’s legs, wrapping the rope around his leg and knocking him off balance.

For a moment, she thinks it’s worked. He teeters over the edge and she has a moment to breathe.

But then he regains his footing, a curl to his lips.

Before she can do anything else, Rover slams into him once more. Sending the galra falling once more. He overbalances but his reflexes are still fast. Faster than they should be.

He grabs Rover before he plummets, one foot still on the ledge but the rest of him hanging over the pit.

Katie’s heart stops in her chest because she’s running the numbers and Rover doesn’t have the energy capacity to keep a being the galra’s size afloat like that.

She moves before she’s finished the thought. She knows what will happen to Rover. He’ll overheat, his circuitry will fry from overexertion and both of them will fall.

Her bayard flies out of her hands faster than lightning, cutting into the galra’s wrist deeply and forcing him to let go of Rover. She’s running even before it hits him.

Rover starts falling a second before she gets to the edge.

Her hand shoots out over the abyss, reaching for her bot.

Digit screams in her head and for a second, Katie thinks she’s overbalanced too. Too much momentum behind her run and now she’ll fall and let everyone down.

Then the second passes and she catches Rover at the last second, scooping him up and throwing herself away from the ledge.

The metal burns at her hand, her precious bot overheated but not beyond repair. He’s clocked out for the rest of the mission, but he’s not gone. And for that, Katie breathes a sigh of relief.

Setting him on the ground so not to further injure herself, she pets the air around him to avoid cooking her fingertips. “Don’t worry, little guy. I’ll get you fixed up soon. Promise.”

“Haxus! Report in.”

Katie whips around at the voice, terrified she’s been discovered by Sendak before realizing it’s just the screen. She gets up to stand in front of it, coming face to face with the cocky sonofabitch himself. Sendak looks almost surprised before it melts into fury.

“Haxus is dead,” she snarls, refusing to think of the moral repercussions of her hand in that event. This is _war._ She doesn’t have time for feelings. “And you’re next.”

“You've slowed me down, but this ship is mine! You will turn yourself over to me immediately!”

“Not a chance, you two-bit villain.”

Sendak growls before getting himself under control. A predatory smile overtakes his features, making him look wolfish. Katie doesn’t like that look at all. “Well, then, maybe your leader can convince you.”

The camera swings around, showing Shiro, beaten and tied up, crouched protectively over a prone Lance who looks even worse than the last time Katie saw her.

She gasps involuntarily, her hand raising to the screen when she sees them. Her heart twists painfully in her chest at the sight and very suddenly, Katie is _very_ angry.

Shiro raises his head to glare behind the camera. “What do you want?”

“Your friend wanted to hear from you,” Sendak tells him in a voice that implies you should be thanking him for his generosity.

Katie keeps her mouth shut, refusing to play his game as her blood boils.

It doesn’t seem to matter, because Shiro plays into their hands instead. “Pidge?” his eyes are worried, voice panicked. “Pidge don't listen to-” his voice is cut off by a scream that makes her flinch.

The camera swings back to Sendak, a cruel smile on his face. “You can make it stop,” he tells her patiently. “Just turn yourself in. His suffering is in your hands.”

Katie glares at him, a snarl on her lips and a venom in her veins. “You can take your dumbass ultimatums and shove them up your ass!”

She walks away from the control panel, the screen sparking from where she’d destroyed it with her bayard.

***

The screen dissolves into static and Takashi has to bite back a smile at the way Pidge _slammed_ Sendak. Even the electric shock still fizzling through his veins isn’t enough to smother the grin on his face. He bows his head to hide it. He, of course, will have to disprove of it in person because that was _insanely_ dangerous and ill-advised, but he is also _so proud._

There’s no need to worry about Pidge. She can handle herself, it seems.

Sendak hums from where he stands at the helm. He sounds almost intrigued and the mirth in Takashi’s chest turns cold.

“Are all your kind so fiery? Perhaps it would be worth the trip back to your backwater planet to find out.” He turns back to Takashi, wolfish grin firmly in place and eyes smoldering with anger. “Of course, we’ll break them the same way we broke you.”

Takashi stiffens at the words, mind rebelling against the idea. He wants to fight. To scream and claw and prove he isn’t a broken soldier, a broken man. Prove he’s still _worth_ something.

But he is not like Pidge or Keith. He has Lance next to him, a team to think about. If he fights, if he _moves_ , they’ll kill her and everyone else. He has to put them before his pride. He can’t be impulsive.

Sendak walks closer to him, lifting his chin and forcing him to meet his eyes. “With Prorok in possession of the Red Lion and my gaining of the four other Lions, the empire has gained Voltron. Soon, the rest of the universe will fall to its knees before the might of Emperor Zarkon. You and your,” He shoots a disdainful look at Lance. “ _pitiful_ Voltron will be the first to fall. Our Emperor will see to it personally. A… _personal_ revenge, if you will.”

Takashi keeps his face neutral. Refuses to give Sendak the _fucking_ satisfaction. He couldn’t break him in his prison when he was alone and he certainly won’t be able to break him now that he has people to fight for. To _protect_.

Sendak raises a single brow but walks away, apparently bored with Takashi’s non-reaction.

Now he just needs to wait. Pidge is smart, resourceful. She’ll figure something out.

He only hopes it won’t be _too_ dangerous.

***

The wall cracks under his punch. Which is cathartic but also now his knuckles sting like hell.

Hunk curses his cowardice.

They were so close to getting the crystal! Hunk had it in his hands! But then he blew it all at the last moment and now they’ve failed and Lance is going to…

Hunk punches the wall again.

His eyes burn behind his eyelids and he can hear Coran pacing behind him. His head thunks against the unyielding rock and he tries swallowing the frustrated sobs and helplessness that threaten to choke him.

He can’t even feel Lance, the soothing waves that run through his veins and fill him up are scarily absent. Have _been_ absent since they landed on this planet, but he can feel the emptiness so clearly now.

It’s terrifying.

He’s failed her and Keone’s trapped in this planet. It’s only a matter of time before the galra find her.

He’s ruined everything.

The sound of footsteps bounding down the hallway makes Hunk jump. His heart jackknifes in his chest as he watches a figure emerge from the shadows.

His heart starts pounding with a new type of fear when he sees that it’s Shay, holding a severed sentry hand. “Shay? What are you doing here? You could get-”

“There isn’t time,” they interrupt, pressing the galra hand against the panel. “Come, we must make haste to your pod. It will not be long before they discover our ruse.”

The shimmering purple force field that had been acting as their prison dissipates and Shay grabs his wrist, tugging him off into the darkness without further preamble. Hunk stumbles after them, his feet following without conscious thought. Coran scrambles after them.

“What? Shay, what are you talking about? We?”

“My family. We’ve secured the Crystal in your Lion. Now, _come.”_

Coran jogs to keep up with the fast pace Shay sets down the tunnel, their keen eyes helping to see in the dim light while Hunk has to use his helmet’s night vision. “How did you get the Crystal?”

Shay grumbles something he doesn’t catch. “You Skylings and your questions.” They turn back to look at Hunk, eyes boring into him. “My family helped me spirit away the crystal. Now _hurry._ It will not be long before they discover it was stolen.”

“What!” Hunk panics. “If you were caught the galra would’ve-”

“But the galra did _not_ catch me.” Shay grins at him as they enter the main cavern once more, Keone fully above the ground and only just barely fitting in the cave despite how curled up she is.

“I must go. Good luck, Guardian.” Shay moves to leave, releasing his wrist and stepping down one of the tunnels. Hunk’s mind spins around itself, checking and rechecking pieces and ideas and actions.

He grabs onto Shay before they can completely disappear. “Come with us.”

Shay turns back to him, confused. “What?”

“Come with us. You’ll be safe. We can take you to far away worlds. You could travel, see the universe.”

Shay is speechless before him. Their mouth opening and closing like a fish. “I cannot leave my family here to suffer alone.”

“We’ll come back. I promised I’d free your people and I will. But for now, you could be safe,” he pleads. “Come with us, please.”

Shay shakes their head even though it looks painful for them. “I am sorry, Guardian. I am needed here. My family is here, and so here is where I will stay.”

Hunk grits his teeth in worry but nods stiffly. He understands. Family comes first.

“Okay. Just… be safe? Please. I’ll be back. Hold out until I come back.”

“I know.” Their smile is small and sad. “Until then, take this.” They pull something out of a pocket and presses into the palm of his hand. Curiously, he finds a smooth lifesaver shaped stone with spiraling blue lines scattered across it in intricate patterns. It sits in the dip of his palm perfectly and feels warm even through the suit.

“What is it?”

Shay smiles softly. “A Touchstone. It will keep you safe on your travels.” They place their hand over Hunk’s heart. “Until we meet again, my Guardian.”

Hunk flushes but nods determinedly. “Until we meet again.”

He then turns and climbs into Keone after Coran. Shay is gone back to the shadows by the time he makes it to the pilot seat. They’d probably stayed too long as it was.

He hopes they’ll be okay. He’ll come back.

He‘ll save Lance, and then he’ll save them. All of them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Mysteries and snippets of backstory abound! ahh! I'm so excited to get to the reveals you have no idea.  
> But uhh,,, yeah! I wanted to get this out on Sunday but there were like two scenes that were kicking my ass so it took longer... oops? But! super long chapter so I hope that makes up for it.  
> I made references for the new [Paladin Suits](https://lady-literature.tumblr.com/post/186962920601/the-official-evolved-armours-for-born-of-the) if you'd like to look at those! I'll make the evolved versions when they appear in the story or just... later.  
> I hope you enjoyed, leave a comment or kudos below, it truly makes my day! last time I got a long comment I cried no joke.  
> What do you think the Lions are hiding? How were they made? What does the bond do? let me hear your theories!


	8. Red as the New Day (and twice as bloody)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Explosive actions have explosive results and the team adopts two new cats. Also, Elvis is definitely an alien.

She floats aimlessly in the gray, the screams echoing around her.

It takes her too long to realize that the voice isn’t her. That her throat had destroyed itself hours-months-years ago.

The sound breaks through the haze like an arrow, scattering the cotton that clouded her mind and stuffed up her ears.

The string in her chest pulls at her and she breaks free from the Drowning Place, gasping for air desperately. The pain hits her again, more real this time. A heavy ache in her muscles and bones.

She almost sinks back down but the string _yanks._ Desperately calling for help.

Lance pushes through the pain, forcing her burning body to _move_.

Vague blurs dance in between the black dots of her failing eyes. A large purple bruise holds a writhing green smudge above the ground. Her mind tries to understand what’s happening in front of her.

Her mind is too slow.

Her hands and the feeling in her chest know what’s going on before she does, and her vision clears enough for her to raise her bayard to her face.

She takes aim.

The green smudge screams and Lance’s chest _tightens_.

She can’t miss.

The shot is a blast of white in her vision.

Her aim stays true.

The bruise screams and drops the green smudge. A red splatter comes from nowhere and shoves the bruise away. Lance relaxes once more and falls backward, no longer able to support herself.

She doesn’t fall back into the Drowning Place. Even if it would be less painful.

Her mind stays aware. The sounds of fighting continue as she lays there, struggling to breathe.

It’s an eternity before someone runs to her side and helps her sit up. She hisses through her teeth at the movement, her ribs protesting angrily. She falls with a gasp against someone’s chest, their arms surrounding her.

“Lance, are you okay?” The words float to her lazily. She blinks hard to focus. Her head tilts up to meet unnatural purple eyes, somehow even brighter in the dim light. Her addled brain thinks they might even be glowing.

 _“Keef?”_ she slurs, tongue heavy in her mouth.

“Yeah, I’m here.”

“Mhmm,” she hums, leaning further into him. “Y’ur a ‘rrible d’ncer.”

The pillow she’s laid on chuckles softly. Almost like it’s surprised it’s laughing. Lance smiles in response, fading back into unconsciousness before she can hear whatever it says in response.

***

Lance bounces her way up to Keith, hair pulled back in a high ponytail and uniform straightened to perfection. One must look their best when making propositions of partnerships.

Or, that’s what Francisca says, at least.

It was only the fourth day of freshman year, but Lance could already tell that this boy was going to be the best pilot in their class. His simulator scores were _beyond_ phenomenal and there was something about him that just made him seem sure of himself.

Lance was determined to make him her friend.

She would’ve brought Hunk along to help her secure him in the group, but he had to stay back in Mr. Holt’s class for advanced something or others that go _way_ over her head. Also, Keith seems to make Hunk nervous for whatever reason; too much of ‘bad boy’ vibe she supposes.

But Keith was _right there._ She couldn’t just let the opportunity _walk_ by.

She taps him on the shoulder, smile wide as he turns around. “Hi! My name’s Lance!” She sticks out her hand for him to take, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement.

He stares down at it for a moment before looking back up at her, face blank.

Lance lowers her hand, with little other than a confused frown. Maybe he just doesn't like touching? Or is a germaphobe?

Either way, she can work with it.

“Ah, well. You’re Keith, right? I saw your simulator scores. You’re a really good pilot!”

His eyes narrow but beyond that, he doesn’t react more.

Lance tilts her head curiously, ponytail swaying with the movement. “You don’t talk much, do ya?”

A pause. Then, Keith shakes his head slightly, his suspicious expression unchanging.

Lance smiles wider. Progress!

“Okay! My sister Mace doesn’t like talking too much either, so that’s cool.” She waves her hands about, getting excited again. “Anyway! I was wondering if you could help me with the simulator? It’s kind of hard for me and I’d appreciate some tips if you have any! That isn’t to say I won’t give you something in return, of course. I’m super good at History and Strategic Theory, and Hunk--he’s my best friend--is _fantastic_ at anything involving Science or machines. We could trade!” she gasps. “Or do study groups! You ever been in a study group? Hunk always makes the best snacks for those. I-”

“What are you talking about?” he interrupts.

Lance’s mouth snaps shut, a little embarrassed she started rambling. She pulls her ponytail over her shoulder, fiddling with the ends nervously.

“Oh, uh. Sorry, I got carried away.” She gives him a sheepish smile. “I’m always doing that. But, uh, I was hoping we could hang out sometime? You know, for the simulator thing? I’m honestly terrible at it.”

Hopefully, he could tell her his trick. Or why the simulators were so different from the actual ships and stuff. Oh! She bets he knows all the secrets. He seems like the type.

Keith looks her up and down, almost as if he’s sizing her up as an opponent. It’s unnerving and Lance’s smile falls a little bit, realizing this interaction might not be going the way she expected. His unnaturally sharp eyes zero in on the movement.

“Are you trying to ask me out on a date?”

He stares at her flatly. The delivery so deadpan Lance almost thinks he’s joking for a moment. Then she realizes he’s not.

Her eyes widen, bewilderment obvious in every movement she makes. “What? No!” she denies. “I just wanted to-”

Keith’s expression grows thunderous and he interrupts her again. “Then you’re making fun of me.”

 _How the hell did he come to_ that _conclusion?_ Lance wonders completely lost now.

“Why would I-? Wha? _Wait.”_ she throws her arms out in front of her. “I’m not _making fun_ of you.”

“Then why else would you be doing this?” he asks aggressively.

Lance’s mind is a string of _‘?????’_ at this point and she is so confused as to how the conversation ended like this. What is _wrong_ with this boy?

“Uh? Because I wanted to be your _friend?”_

“I don’t have friends.” Keith’s expression doesn’t change as he neatly steps around her hands. “And I don’t want any. Certainly none as talkative as you.”

 _‘Okay._ Rude,’ she thinks, anger and frustration bubbling in her chest.

Lance watches him walk away, words of anger burning the at the back of her throat like bile. It’s the first time she feels genuine dislike rise up in her.

It tastes bitter in her mouth, the same way losing does. She decides she doesn’t like that at all.

***

Hunk hovers nervously around the cryopod, hopping from foot to foot. He hasn’t even bothered to take off his armour or clean up since he got back. He’s covered in dirt and dust. It can’t be sanitary. “You’re sure she’ll be okay in there? Absolutely?”

“Of course, my boy! After a day in there she’ll be in tip-top shape!” Coran crows, clapping him on the back happily. “Even better I’d hope. Try not to worry so much.”

“Speaking of hope…” Shiro turns to her, an understanding expression on his face that does nothing to hide the sadness or worry in his eyes. “We’ll support you in whatever you choose, but… well. I don’t think I’m the only one who hopes you chose to stay. You’re a part of this team whether you wanted to be or not. We’ll miss you.”

Katie stares up at him, knowing a guilt trip when she sees one but also knowing if she truly chose to leave, he’d let her. It’s still a dirty trick and she gives him a look for it, making sure he knows she sees through him.

She should probably be angrier that he even tried, even if it was ineffectual. But, well, she had been planning on staying anyway.

She’ll find her father and Matt, she doesn’t plan to stop looking, but that doesn’t mean she has to sacrifice what she has right in front of her to chase after maybes and what ifs.

Besides. She doesn’t think she could leave Digit behind if she _wanted_ to. Which she doesn’t.

Katie takes a deep breath, blowing it out harshly.

“Actually,” she scratches the back of her neck nervously, catching the attention of everyone in the room. “I’d like to stay. Here. With you guys and the Lions and all the crazy. For better or for worse.”

Shiro has that proud smile on his face that makes Katie feel like she accomplished something amazing. She gives him one of her own before Hunk sweeps her off her feet, twirling her around.

“Oh, thank god! I would’ve been so worried if you left all alone in space. And so would Lance, and then she’d also be sad. Not that I wouldn't be sad, but she would be doubly sad because she’s _Lance_ and then she’d start cry so I’d start crying and we wouldn’t be able to fight the galra because we’d be crying so much and-”

“Okay! Okay! I said I wasn’t leaving, let me go!”

Hunk gives her one last squeeze before setting her gently back on the ground. Katie makes a big show about brushing herself off because she has a _reputation,_ dammit. But secretly she really liked being twirled around. Reminded her of her dad doing it whenever he picked her up as a kid.

“Glad to have you back,” Keith tells her and it’s not an apology. Not really. But the way he says it feels like an olive branch.

And, well. As a fellow emotionally constipated individual, she can hardly hold it against him for not actually _saying_ the words. She wouldn’t have either.

“Yeah. It is, isn’t it?”

***

She tries again with Keith because of course she does. She rationalizes that he might’ve been having a bad day or maybe she came on too strong or whatever else might’ve set him off. It doesn't matter. Lance doesn’t like giving up, so she tries again but _better_ this time.

Two days after The Incident, as she dubbed it, she pulls him aside after Mr. Wu’s class with high hopes of reconciliation.

Her hopes are inevitably crushed beneath his apathy and cruel words. He pushes past her, shoulder knocking into her own hard enough to make her stumble.

When she calls after him angrily, he doesn’t even bother to turn around.

“I don’t have time for this,” he spits over his shoulder and Lance wants to punch him until he drops that flat voice of his. I’d be very easy to do. Her cousins taught her how when she was seven and Keith didn’t even have his guard up. “Just stay out of my way.”

Instead of resorting to violence, Lance grits her teeth and very carefully makes her way back to her room so she can destroy a pillow instead of some unassuming trashcan or student.

At that moment, she makes it her personal mission to _destroy_ Keith in everything. If he thinks that he’s so much better than her, that he can just _ignore_ her, throw her away and _forget her-_

Well.

Lance has never been above putting someone in their place.

***

Hunk is confused when she tells him that Keith is now their mortal enemy. Especially since only yesterday she was hell-bent on making him their third Musketeer. But, as in everything important to her, he supports her entirely. After asking how having a mortal enemy is supposed to affect their lives of course.

Lance assures him she won’t start fistfights in the hallways with him and watches as Hunk’s stress levels go back down.

***

Hunk sleeps next to Lance's cryopod that night.

It’s that first day in space again. When Lance went out and fought against a warship with only herself, Pidge and a Lion she only half knew how to fly.

Only this time, he can’t hold her to reassure himself she’s okay.

The echo in his chest is the only reason he doesn’t go crazy. The steady _ba-dum_ keeping him sane and assuring him that Lance is okay. Lance is fine.

He’s going to be fine.

They’re _both_ going to be fine.

***

It turns out, that pettiness and spite are excellent motivators. Even better than food, apparently.

That isn’t to say Hunk’s strawberry tarts and mini quiches aren't good motivators--because honestly, anything Hunk makes is _to die for--_ but that’s not the point she’s making here.

The point she _is_ making is that since she decided she was going to crush Keith in everything she can get her hands on, her grades have gone up drastically. They were plenty good before, the Garrison is a high-class school after all, but now she’s even giving _Hunk_ a run for his money.

(Not really. Hunk has had a solid 4.0 GPA since 6th grade but she likes to dream.)

She chases after Keith in every subject, every event, every _project_.

And despite all of that. It _still isn’t enough._

It doesn’t matter that she aces her tests or quizzes or is involved with extracurriculars and clubs. All anyone ever talks about is Keith and how great of a pilot he is. Or how mysteriously attractive he’s gotten. Or how he’s Takashi Shirogane’s younger brother which automatically makes him the coolest person in their grade.

She feels like she’s living in a shadow. Even with three older sisters and even more cousins, she never felt like she was overshadowed. She wasn’t just brushed aside or forgotten.

Until now.

She’s being left behind in the one thing that matters and Keith isn’t even _trying_ to do it! He doesn’t even _care_ that he has the entire faculty and student body wrapped around his finger from his flying scores _alone_.

She thinks that’s the biggest insult. That he doesn’t know. Doesn’t _care._

When he’s thrown out of school, she thinks that will finally be the end of it. She’s made fighter class and will get to live her dream and never have to think about _him_ again.

Oh, how wrong she was. Even after he’s gone, he still haunts her. Still sours everything she touches and twists it into a weapon that makes her bleed out her hopes and dreams until she’s run dry.

_You’re only here because Keith dropped out._

_You’re just not as good as Keith._

_Keith’s simulator scores were way better than yours._

She works harder, faster, _better_ than he ever did.

It’s not enough. It will never _be_ enough.

The shadow gets bigger and colder and she screams until she can’t speak.

The bitterness sits at the back of her throat and chokes her.

***

The next time she’s aware and conscious she’s falling out of the cryopod, legs weak and feeling like she could eat a horse.

Azura is in her head in an instant, all concerned rumbles and happy chirps. Lance mentally pokes back at her to say she’s okay. Her thoughts are clumsy enough on their own, she doesn’t need the mental equivalent of a kitten going about knocking things around to make it worse.

Everyone is clustered in a group near the pod but faced away. They’re talking about something, quiet cheering coming from Hunk and Pidge.

“We’re winning!”

“Winning what? The intergalactic time-measuring competition?”

_“Yes.”_

Lance staggers over curiously, unceremoniously draping herself over Hunk's back to help her stand upright but mostly because she just likes doing it. Hooking her chin over his shoulder to get a better look, she hums inquiringly. “You guys having a clock party?” she asks around a yawn.

God, she was tired. And hungry. And confused.

 _Really_ confused. Like ‘she missed the first forty minutes of a lecture on astrophysics’ confused.

“Aww, come on Lance, you- _Lance!”_ Hunk spins around, lightning quick, and hoists her up in the bear hug to end all bear hugs. Her breath escapes her in a huge rush as he spins them around babbling happily about how ‘he’s so glad she’s okay’ and ‘never do that again’ and other such things.

He must’ve been really worried about her, normally he’s more careful with his strength.

“Whoa, baby doll.” She pats his shoulder, catching his attention as her head spins. “That is a lot of circles,” she tells him dazedly. He puts her down, thankfully, but keeps an arm wrapped around her waist for support and probably comfort.

To her surprise, the second Hunk puts her down, Pidge darts in with a brief hug before leaving just as quickly. Like she thinks if she did it fast enough, no one would have noticed her being soft.

Lance smothers a fond smile. She doesn’t think Pidge would appreciate it.

Coran steps up next but doesn’t hug her. Instead, he squeezes her shoulders lightly, a relieved look on his face. Almost like he’s reassuring himself she’s still there.

Lance grabs one of his arms and pulls him down for a hug. She must take him by surprise, or he wanted to hug her anyway because there is no way she would be able to tug him over otherwise. Not with how weak she was in that moment.

“It’s good to have you back, Lance,” Shiro tells her.

“Good to be back I s’pose,” she tells him with a tired grin. “What happened?”

Allura steps forward, much less fancy since the last time Lance saw her. “I think it would be best if we told you after you ate something. Can you walk?”

The thought of food has Lance’s mouth salivating. “Walking? _Pssh_ , I’ve been walking for years. Practically an expert,” she pauses. “Wait, is this a date? Eating and talking sounds like a date. It looks like you’re making a move on me, Princess.”

Lance grins flirtatiously and tries leaning forward but overbalances and almost falls on her face. Hunk catches her at the last moment, saving her the embarrassment.

The others laugh and she grins sheepishly. “Ah, so… Walking might be more of a problem than I originally believed.”

Allura shakes her head, her mane of white hair falling over her shoulders as she tries to hide her exasperated smile. Hunk gives her his best ‘I’m trying to look disapproving while also trying not to laugh’ look.

It one of her favorite faces.

***

Once she gets some spiced food goo into her stomach and changed out of the skin-tight body suit she’d been wearing in the pod--what was with _that_ by the way?--the team started explaining what happened while she was out.

To put it lightly? It was _insane._

After she saved Coran from being blown up, she basically fell into a coma and became the designated Damsel in Distress for this particular adventure.

Then, Sendak--the fucking _cockroach_ \--fakes an attack on the arusian village so he can break in and steal the Castle. Shiro and her get captured so Pidge has to basically Mission Impossible her way around the Castle in order to save them and everyone else.

Pidge regales her with the dramatic tale of sabotage and quickly skips over the part where she sees someone fall to their death.

Sure, he was an asshole, but it’s still traumatizing.

Lance is _so proud_ of Pidge for keeping her head on straight throughout the whole thing. She is one tough lil’ bean.

Elsewhere, Hunk and Coran had been trying to find a replacement crystal and were completely unaware of the situation going on back at the Castle.

Lance is glad she’s not the only one super confused.

And finally, they finish off the tale with the final battle in the bridge where Lance apparently deus-ex machina-ed herself and shot Sendak’s arm off to save Pidge from _being strangled_.

What the _fuck_.

She does _not_ remember that.

Also, they have Sendak trapped in the basement now.

Lance’s head spins with all the information as she tries to wrap her mind around how all of _that_ went down while she was asleep.

“Sorry I missed the party guys,” she jokes once they finish. “Next time I’ll make sure to bring the cake to make up for it.” The team around her chuckles lightly which makes her feel a little better. She feeds a bit of her second plate to the arusian mice who had apparently become full-time crew-mates while she was out.

She feels like she should be concerned that arusian mice are mildly telepathic. But they got the particle barrier open so what can she say? At least they’re handy in a pinch.

She turns to Keith who was sitting on the table in front of her. He’d been silent for most of the story, just sitting there staring at her, a strange look on his face.

His gaze made her skin itch.

What was he looking at? What was he thinking?

Lance waves a spoon at him, catching his attention. “You though. It sounds like you did even less than the _mice.”_

Keith's metaphorical hackles raise almost instantly and the thoughtful look on his face vanishes. “Wha-? I- I _punched_ Sendak!”

“After I apparently awoke from a coma and shot off his arm! Which, might I add, is fucking badass? Like, go me.” She does an air punch to celebrate.

Keith continues to sputter. “We had a bonding moment!” Lance raises a single eyebrow at him. “I cradled you in my arms!”

“Okay! _Now_ you’re just making stuff up.”

“I’m not- Why would I-?”

“How am I supposed to know?” Lance tells him incredulously. “You’re the one spreading rumors.”

Keith’s shoulders are up to his ears now, his face red and embarrassed. “It’s not a-” whatever else he had been about to say is lost to a rumbling growling noise.

It’s a sound that’s slowly becoming Lance’s favorite noise because it means she’s getting under his skin, making him _notice_. She grins at the vaguely inhuman sound--seriously how does he _do_ that--and pointedly takes another bite of food.

Serves him right for spreading lies.

She can only remember vaguely recall purple eyes and something grabbing her but she’s sure even as out of it as she was, she wouldn’t have been anywhere near Keith. One night dancing doesn’t change years of him just _ignoring_ her. Of him thinking her not worth his time.

Lance pushes the rest of her plate towards the mice before leaning back in her chair and throwing her feet over Hunk’s lap, startling him out of his reverie.

“So, what the game plan? We’re heading off to that space market you promised me, right, Allura?” She tilts her head back, looking at the princess upside down. “Because let me tell you, I’ve made a list of the stuff we need and it’s really quite long. I’m wondering if we have enough money for this. Actually, do we have money at all? Does Altean currency still work?”

Before Allura or Coran can decipher--much less _answer--_ her string of questions, Hunk speaks instead.

“No.” His voice is hard and brooked no arguments against him. “We can’t go yet. We have to go back to the Balmera and free Shay and her people first.”

Lance’s tongue is already halfway around a joke when she turns back to see the look in his eyes. The words die on her tongue.

He looks so determined. So worried about this Shay he met for only a few hours.

Since she’s known him, he’s always been empathetic. Wanting to help others, make them happy, be kind. He was a caregiver to the core.

But he was always passive in his empathy. Shy and quiet.

He gave advice but never pushed. He cleaned you up after fights but tried not to get involved. He calmly spoke and never got physical despite the fact he could easily beat anyone around him to a pulp. He gave you cookies when you were sad and offered an ear to listen and a shoulder to cry on.

Lance had always been the more courageous of the two. Where he faltered, she pushed forward and vice versa. They were a good team, making up for the other’s faults.

But now, she could see Hunk pushing forward.

She always wondered what it would take for Hunk to get involved.

It seems she now has her answer.

A month ago, Hunk had stood in front of her and joined a war he has no stake in just because it meant staying at her side. Years before that, he’d followed her to the school of her dreams so she wouldn’t be alone and scared.

Now, Lance sits before him and promises to follow _him_ for a change. To let him lead her into a battle she knows nothing about because he says it’s what they must do, and she trusts him more than herself some days.

She can’t tell if they’re ridiculously co-dependent or just stupid.

“We can’t go to either yet,” Allura interrupts.

Hunk turns on her quicker than Lance has ever seen, his eyes narrowed and mouth open to snap in a way she rarely sees.

Before he can though, Allura speaks over him. “We must find the Red Lion first.”

Lance doesn’t miss the way Keith jolts upwards at the mention of his Lion. Shiro subtly shifts as well, standing taller and gaze sharp.

“The Balmerans don’t have _time_ for us to find the Red Lion!” Hunk insists. “We need to go now!”

“Rushing in unprepared will only cause more damage-”

“People are _dying!”_

“And they’ll continue to die if we can’t form Voltron!” Allura snaps, silencing the entire room with the force of her anger. Her aura fills the space, commanding and filled with power.

Lance forgets she was royalty before. _True_ royalty. The kind that demands respect and commands armies into their places.

It’s easy to when she acts like a curious child when it comes to Earth and all its intricacies. When she seems human and like a girl Lance would interact with in class.

Lance, because she has a death wish and never knows when to stop pushing, is the first to break the deafening silence. “Okay, but… do we even know where the Red Lion is?”

Allura straightens up at the question. “Actually, we do.”

Keith’s hands slam on the table, leaning forward int Lance’s space in order to get closer to Allura whose stood behind her. “Since when?” he demands, eyes wide. “You didn’t think to tell us?”

Allura stares at him coolly. “Shiro learned it was a galra commander who was in possession of the Red Lion during the break-in. He pulled me aside after Lance was secured and informed me. We only got a lock on her location minutes before Lance was set to awaken.”

Keith hunches in on himself and Lance remembers that out of all of them, Keith is the only one who hasn’t even _spoken_ to his Lion. They’ve been in space an entire month, fighting and training and learning and he hasn’t even formed his bond yet. Hasn’t yet bound himself to this impossible war.

Something in Lance softens at the thought.

Then she gets upset at it. At him. This boy who, time and time again since arriving here, proved her wrong in how she thought of him. Showed her he was not who she thought he was.

Lance didn’t know what to do with this information. Didn’t know how to react to this new Keith she was starting to know.

Lance didn’t like not knowing things.

Keith stands abruptly. “Well, let’s go get her.”

“Keith, we can’t just-” Shiro starts, but Keith speaks over him.

“No! I’m going to get her with or without you,” his eyes roam across Pidge and Hunk before coming to a stop on her, his eyes fixed and blazing. “What if it were your Lion? Would you sit out?”

Lance’s heart seized in her chest. If her Lion was taken from her… kept out of her reach…

Lance doesn’t like thinking of herself as a bad person, but she thinks there are very few things that would stop her from getting her Lion back.

The thought scares her a little bit. The overwhelming possessiveness over her Lion. When she looks over at Pidge and Hunk, she can tell they’re thinking the same thing.

Luckily, Shiro speaks up because Lance had no response to that.

None she liked anyway.

“Keith, just- Calm down. Of course, we’re coming with you. We just need a plan.”

***

There isn’t much they can do without a solid understanding of what the ship looks like, but they decide roles for everyone to follow and teams to go in with. Allura is manning the Castle and Coran is playing eye in the sky, keeping an eye on the galra activity and radio transmissions.

They’re about as confident in the course of action as they can be and break to go get ready for their second official mission.

Before they can leave though, Katie stands up, hands twisting the bottom of her shirt nervously.

“Wait, I- I need to tell you all something… With me staying here and all of us being a team, I’ve decided I should come clean. No secrets, as someone once told me.” Her eyes flick to Lance who’s grinning encouragingly. Katie takes in a deep breath, steadying her frantic heartbeat. “I’m… a girl.”

Silence.

Then…

“OH, THANK GOD!” Lance yells from her seat at the table. “I found out the day we got into space and I have been trying _so hard_ not to out you.” She drags Katie into a rough side hug, messing up her hair in a way that causes the younger to squawk, eyes springing open from where she’d screwed them shut.

“I’ve known for a while as well. But I’m glad you decided to share it with us.”

“Oh, yeah. I figured back at the Garrison.”

“Third day in training.”

“We were supposed to think you were a boy?”

Katie looks around the group, a small smile spreading across her features. “You aren’t mad I lied?”

“‘Course not, Pidgeon.” Lance jostles her in her hold, beaming down at her. “It was your secret to tell. _Besides_ , it doesn’t matter what _gender_ you are. You’re still apart of this team, no matter what.”

“We’re glad you decided to trust us though,” Shiro says with that proud smile on his face.

Katie tries to not let her smile become an ear-splitting grin but by the looks everyone else is giving her, she’s not doing a very good job. Strangely, she doesn’t really care.

***

After finally disentangling herself from Hunk and pushing him towards his own hangar with promises that the second they have free time he can hold her and not let go for however long he deems necessary, Lance makes her way to her own Lion to gear up.

When she pushes the door to her hangar open, she’s not expecting Azura’s snout to be inches from the doorway, her Lion anxiously awaiting her presence. Besides the initial purring and chirps when she’d first woken up, Azura had been silent in her mind. Just a steady thrumming of waves at the bottom of her ribs, calming and definitely present but distant.

Now, the second Azura saw her, it was like lightning in Lance’s mind. Thunder crackled and the waves crashed around her. All she could feel was the relief and worry Azura had felt for her, the terrible aching she had kept trapped away was flooding through the bond and Azura was whimpering in front of her.

Lance’s eyes widened and she raced forward immediately after she got her bearings, throwing herself across as much of her Lion’s snout as she could. She clambered up until she could starfish across her nose, attempting to comfort her with the biggest hug she could manage.

 _“I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”_ Lance repeats over and over again, hoping to soothe her Lion’s frayed nerves. She hadn’t been expecting this much emotion, this much _fear,_ from her Lion. She feels stupid for not realizing sooner how her Lion must have been feeling.

Azura had said that she grieved for every Paladin as harshly as the last so Lance suddenly being… _gone_ would, of course, be upsetting. But she was fine! Azura knows she’s fine!

It didn’t make any sense. She was hurt, but ultimately, she was okay. And Azura knows that there’s danger in being a Paladin, it was one of the first things they talked about! How Paladins are born warriors, protectors. Azura was always so sure that the two of them would come out okay.

What was different now?

What _changed?_

Lance had a feeling that she didn’t want to know.

***

Unknown to Lance, her Lion was desperately trying to regain the shattered pieces of her composure. She wanted to appear strong for her Paladin. To live up to the golden image of the great magical being she was that lived in Lance’s mind.

But all she could think about was the way their connection began fraying at the edges when Lance was injured. The way she slowly started wavering in and out of Azura’s perception of her and how there wasn’t anything she could do. No way for her to reach her Paladin.

Her consciousness was consumed by the heart-stopping feeling of the bond disappearing for a moment--no longer than a second!--but it was unmistakable.

Azura had lost her Paladin so soon after getting her. She _failed_ once again.

She had expected injuries, danger, heartbreak. That all came with the territory and title.

But Azura is never prepared for the moment the danger becomes too much. Can never shield herself from the pain of the bond snapping in two, of her being alone once again.

All she could do was thank her Goddess for bringing Lance back to her. For letting her keep her just a little bit longer. For letting her have this second chance.

She would not fail her again.

***

Infiltrating the Galra Base was child’s play thanks to the Green Lion’s newly minted cloaking ability. The galra were too distracted by Lance and Hunk on the other side that they didn’t even bother guarding their backside.

Arrogant bastards.

Made it easier for them, he supposed.

The real problem here was that now that he’s in the base he was acutely aware of the distance he was from his Lion. It was a solid aching in his chest, putting him on edge and making him jumpy.

His hand kept straying to the knife strapped to the small of his back and he felt he was only seconds away from saying ‘fuck it’ and tearing his way through the ship to finally unite with his Lion.

He can almost hear her. Calling out to him.

Waiting.

Impatient.

It was driving him crazy.

“We’re in, Lance,” Pidge informs, tapping the side of her helmet twice.

Lance’s voice crackles to life on the comms, sounding almost gleeful.  _ “Roger that, Beansprout. Team Leg Day is moving in.” _

Pidge pulls a face. “I thought I told you not to use your stupid codenames.”

_ “And I thought I told  _ you  _ that they weren’t stupid, you’re just mean.”  _ Lance quips back, signing off before Pidge can respond.

The smallest paladin huffs in irritation, mumbling under her breath as she makes her way through the ship’s halls. Keith looks to Shiro who just shrugs in response.

They make it a few hallways over before the alarm starts sounding off and they can hear shots firing off from the ship.

Out of nowhere, Pidge stops dead in her tracks. For a second, Keith thinks she can hear guards coming, that they’ve been caught and will need to fight their way out. His hand inched toward his wrist, readying himself to activate his Bayard.

“Pidge?” Shiro asks. “What’s wrong?”

Keith leans over her shoulder to see what she’s looking at, but it just seems looks like another wall. There’s some weird galra symbol on it, but other than that, there’s nothing interesting about it.

“That’s the Communications room. It holds all the information on the ship.”

Keith’s brow furrows. “How do you know that?”

The smaller girl whips her head around to look at him. “Do you even pay attention to the Galra Military lessons from Coran?”

Keith thinks back to his notebook from those lessons. The pages filled with drawings of superheroes and cryptids instead of the notes he should have been taking.

The truthful answer is no.

“Of course, I do,” he retorts.

Pidge rolls her eyes, not buying it for a second. “What am I saying? Of course, you don’t. You’re worse than Lance.”

Keith bristles at that, opening his mouth to deny any similarities between him and the Blue Paladin when he feels a particularly vicious tug in his chest. It makes him stumble forward a bit.

Shiro reaches out to him worriedly as his chest starts to _burn_. He presses a hand to his breastplate as if he can feel the warm blossoming in his chest.

Red is getting impatient.

“My Lion,” Keith rasps. “Does _not_ like waiting.”

“Like a certain kid I know,” Shiro jokes. Keith glares at him for that comment.

“Yes, well,” Pidge interrupts. “As touching as that is, we’re currently in enemy territory and I need to hack into that communications hub like _yesterday_ , so…”

“What? Why do you need to get in there? We’re here for the Lion.”

“Ignoring how narrow-minded that is, I need information on my family. Just because I’m not flying the coop doesn’t mean I’m giving up. Besides, imagine all the information we could gain. We’d have an advantage over the Galra _already._ ”

Shiro looks down at her for a moment, weighing his options in his head and looking at the door. Keith is hyper-aware they’re still just standing in a hallway completely exposed and have been there for a while. Guards could show up any second.

 _“Shiro,”_ he hisses.

“New plan,” he says, fake optimistically in that way Keith hates because it always means _horrible_ things for him. “Keith, you go off to find the Red Lion, I’m going to help Pidge hack into the galra mainframe.”

The hairs on the back of his neck raise a second before he hears the sound of footsteps.

“What are you-!”

But Shiro’s already slashing through the doorway, dragging Pidge after him. “You’ll do fine! Remember, Patience yields focus!”

He’s gone a second before the sentries round the corner, leaving Keith to deal with the problem himself. He lets out a not-so-quiet string of ‘fuckfuckfuck _fuck’_ as he ducks down a hallway, the sound of laser shots right behind him.

Fucking Shiro and fucking leaving him to fend for himself.

Worst goddam brother in the _universe._

Keith side-steps quickly to avoid a shot aimed at his head, the wall in front of him blackened from the energy.

If he survives this, he swears to _God_ Shiro is going to find snakes in his socks again. He’s not sure how he’ll get them but goddammit he will _find a way._

He comes down to a fork in the road and, without thinking about it, bolts down the right one. He manages to shake the sentries in the winding hallways after cathartically cutting one in half.

He thinks he’s doing pretty good at finding his way around until he stumbles onto the same fork in the road from before. Or, it just _looks_ like the same fork in the road as before which isn’t better.

Keith has to tamp down the urge to scream in frustration.

Instead, he takes a deep breath and forces the anger and frustration down into manageable slots. _“Patience yields focus. Patience yields focus._ ” He remembers both Lance and Pidge talking about feeling a connection and how it led them to their Lions.

He’s pretty sure his is the fire in his chest. The feeling of the sun beating on his neck and steam rising from boiling water. It’s in his chest, he can feel it there, but it flickers in and out of tangibility.

It dances just out of reach, almost like it’s teasing him. Laughing.

He forces himself to look deeper and he digs his hands into the feeling. His fingers blistering with the heat of it, the fire licking up his arms and threatening to consume him, but he just pushes further into it, determined and stubborn.

His blackened fingers grab onto a thread and Keith _pulls._

His eyes fly back open. “Gotcha.” He doesn’t hesitate. Just sprints off in the direction she knows she’s in, hand grasping at the burning thread, heartbeat pounding in time with the fire flickering in his chest.

***

Incapacitating the two guards in charge of the communications base is child’s play for Shiro, not that Katie had really expected it to be very hard. The man looks like a Captain America knock-off, of _course_ , he can take out some low-level goons.

No, the real problem comes around in the fact that Katie doesn’t have technology that meshes well with the galra and that she _can’t read anything in front of her._

She lets out a string of curses that earn her a scolding look from Shiro she pretends to not notice.

Rover was still conked out, Katie not having finished her repairs or upgrades yet. She wanted to add more insulation to his wiring to make it harder for that kind of thing to happen again. Which means it was taking longer than it would have for him to get back in working condition.

Which also means she doesn’t have a translator or cohesive power source handy which _sucks._

She stares hard at the controls, willing them with her mind to just _make sense._

“Pidge,” he calls anxiously. “If we could pick up the pace?”

“Hey, yeah, Shiro? Do _you_ know how to read galra?” she snaps. “No? Then maybe you should let me _work_.”

“Okay!” he raises his hands in surrender, turning back to guard the door.

Katie huffs and turns back to the control panel. After a moment of careful deliberation where she weighs the pros and cons against each other with a level head, she decides ‘fuck it’ and slams her hand down on a random button. It was big and red and demanded to be pushed anyway so could you really blame her?

Nothing happens to her immense disappointment.

***

Lance stops her Lion for a second, her face the picture of utter confusion.

“Hunk, are you-”

_ “That’s… not me.” _

She listens for a second longer. Then she asks “…Are you sure?” because she really hopes that it’s him that’s doing that. She won’t even ask  _ how. _

_ “I’m not sure of anything anymore.” _

Through her comm comes the sounds of a distant crackling tune that sounds way too close to Elvis’ ‘Burning Love’ for Lance to be comfortable in her world view anymore.

“…Does this mean-”

_ “ _ Don’t _ say it.” _

***

  She fiddles with a few more buttons and controls she _thinks_ might be doing something until she finds what might be a port. She studies the module that’s supposed to fit in it then starts rifling around the guards' fallen bodies.

“Aha!” she cheers triumphantly, running back to the control panel and jamming it into the port. A few more buttons are pressed, and she _thinks_ it starts downloading. She’s pretty sure.

There’s a loading bar on the screen so she’s either downloading all the galran secrets or it’s counting down a bomb.

One or the other.

50/50.

Probably…

Maybe she should stand back from the panel.

***

Hallways blur as he races past, doorway after doorway falling behind him as he eats up the distance between him and his Lion. The pull in his chest gets stronger with every step until it feels like it’s taking up so much space he can’t breathe.

The door slides open and before him, stands the Red Lion.

She is all raw power, untempered and fierce. Lithe and smooth edges. Scarlet red and gold, glittering like stolen jewels.

He runs forward, her forcefield bathing the room in flaming red light. He expects the shield to drop like it had for Lance.

It does.

That is the only thing the two situations have in common.

He falls to his knees before he can even make it past where it once stood. The flickering fire in his chest explodes outwards into a raging inferno, burning him up from the inside. The eruptions of volcanoes fill his ears and he bites back a _roar_ that crawls up his throat, smoke and ash dancing on his tongue.

 _“The burden of fire is not an easy one to bear, little cub.”_ The voice in his head is a fierce, crackling thing. The sound of bubbling lava and the roar of a forest fire given voice.

It burns Keith from the inside out.

_“We are different from my sisters. Our path is not of healing or clarity or growth.”_

Magma flows through his veins and he is _exploding._ Ripping apart at the seams and breaking himself down to ash.

_“We are destruction and burning and battle. We are the weapon that Voltron wields.”_

Keith is a supernova given human form and he _hurts._

 _“We are the Guardian of Guardians, little cub and soon you will learn we are not red with flames but with_ blood.”

Keith bites back screams, bites back his questions of _why why why_ bites back his pain and he looks up and up and up. The eyes of his Lion are endless pools of scarlet blood, shimmering with heat and something else unnamed and older than time.

_“But do not be scared of us, my paladin. Our burden is heavy, but it does not make us wicked. We are Loyalty and Strength just as much as we are weapons.”_

Something in Keith _snaps._ A piece slotting into place where he had been unaware there was anything missing. The heat fades away to something bearable, a campfire in his chest and steam in his lungs. He rises from the pain like a phoenix from ashes. Reborn as a warrior. A Paladin.

He gasps for air, drinking it into his lungs as he presses his forehead into the cool metal floor.

He thinks that is the worst of it.

When he touches Red--a hand placed on her snout, her metal warm warm _warm--_ three more bonds slot themselves into his chest.

Golden sunlight. The sand shifting in the desert. Bedrock. Warm laughter. A shimmering thread, winding itself around the base of his ribs.

Oak trees. Vibrant forests. Curiosity and mischief. Roots digging themselves into his lungs. The distant hum of machinery.

They come one after another. A second after the first one steadies itself, the next crashes into him, knocking him back off balance.

He only has a moment to ground himself before the last one crashes into him. Heavier and harder and faster than the other two.

An entire ocean knocks into him, sweeping him under with the pull of the waves and forcing its way into his veins. He chokes on salt water and drowns in the sound of thunder and whale song. Where the sea touches the fire in his chest, the water burns away to steam and mist and his breath fogs in front of him. Static dances across his skin, prickling along water droplets like hopscotch.

The final bond settles like an anchor in his chest. A sea surrounding his island of fire.

He coughs up the salt in his lungs and breathes deeply.

“What the hell was that?”

His Lion looks at him amused, her quiet chuckle flickering in his mind like a small fire. _“That, my paladin, would be our pride.”_

Keith thinks through the haze of his brain realigning itself with the four new sensations swirling through his head. “…Pride? You mean, that was the others?” his hand rubs absently at the thrumming power in his chest.

Gold. Forest green. Iridescent blue-purple-black.

Hunk. Pidge. Lance.

_What the fuck._

He doesn’t have more time to think about it--probably best considering the thought is already giving him a headache.

The doors behind him open, five sentries stood with their guns raised to him. His arm moves before he thinks about it, the shield glowing in front of him as shots ring across it.

He doesn’t have a chance to move forward or activate his Bayard because in the next moment Red scoops him up and they’re tearing their way out through the bay doors, sentries pulled out into the deep abyss of space.

Keith laughs as he grabs the controls, the feeling of warmth flickering up his arms and mingling with the campfire in his chest. This is where he is meant to be.

For better or for worse.

***

“This is so much fun!” Lance shouts to Hunk on their private comm. She twists and spins away from laser blasts, her form fluid as water. Her and Azura dance away from fighter jets, leading them to Hunk on a merry chase where they find themselves crushed at the end.

The incompetence of the galra drones is sad really.

How did this race take over the entire known universe?

 _“How is this fun?”_ Hunk asks, voice panicky over the comms as she watches him and Keone slash through a drone with their powerful axe tail.

Lance laughs as she leads one drone into shooting another. “Come on! How is this _not_ fun?” She flicks their tail and a glowing blue knife embeds it itself in a galra drone heading for Hunk’s blind spot. “Watch your tail, jelly bean!” she calls cheerfully as she dashes past him.

Then it hits her.

One moment, there is a spark in her chest, small but bright. In the next, Lance is the center of an explosion.

Heat sears itself across her skin and leaves her blistered and burning, the flames digging into her like a brand. The bond carves itself into her ribs, pushing through muscle and bone and settling itself around her heart, bloody and grinning.

The dragon made of flames flickers in her chest, rising and falling like the waves that surround it.

_Possibilities._

_Choices._

_What ifs._

_“So, Keith found the Red Lion,”_ Hunk says through the comms, sounding much more put together than Lance.

Lance gasps, coughing around the smoke and ash in her throat. Her eyes burn and the stinging of her skin dampens but she can still remember the feel of fire in her veins. The bond in her chest is a still too warm and she wonders if she put her hand over her heart, would her fingers come away burned?

“No kidding.”

It’s probably means something that Keith’s bond to her is so painful and different from Hunk and Pidge. That the burning in her chest is some strange symbolism she hasn’t grasped yet.

Like everything having to do with the Red Paladin, she’d rather not think about it. Luckily, there are more important things to think about like galra drones and not dying, so she can happily shove those thoughts to the back of her mind and think about them again sometime around never.

***

Katie shakes off the vestiges of the warmth in her veins, her newly minted bond settling like unlit coals at the base of her skull, right next to the singing seashells and geodes.

Right as she’s about to grab the flash drive, Shiro makes a noise of pain at the doorway. She whirls around to find him struggling with a sentry, a few others behind the first, guns raised.

Quickly she pockets the drive and materializes her Bayard, rushing the sentry that was grappling with Shiro. A quick jab to its leg has the thing falling with lightning sparking across its body. A shot goes past Katie’s nose and her heart thunders in her chest, limbs locking up in fear for a split second.

It’s not until there are more shots pinging off Shiro’s shield does she realize what she did.

Shiro shouts at her to snap out of it, eyes flicking to her in concern as his arm is battered over and over again.

“Sorry. Sorry. I’m fine,” she grits out between her teeth, flinging her arm out and wrapping the weighted rope around a sentry’s leg. She activates the electrocution and pulls it into the one in front of it, toppling the whole line of them. Like a chain reaction, the sentries fall to the ground twitching as purple sparks fly off their bodies.

Her Bayard retracts and Shiro lowers his shield, breathing heavily. It’s not the same shield the rest of them use; his is glimmering purple-black and has a feathered pattern across the front. Katie holds back a snort. He really is Captain America.

“Good thinking.”

She shrugs, still upset at herself for freezing. “Let’s just get out of here. Keith found his Lion.”

***

The atmosphere of the room feels like a crushing weight on Takashi’s shoulders. It takes everything in him to keep his back straight against the eyes on his back, the expectations over his head, the responsibility of a war on his shoulders.

Before him is his Lion, trapped behind a door and silent.

But for the first time since arriving at the castle, he thinks he can feel her. More than her presence or the tugging in his chest that tells him where she is; he can feel _her._

She feels like the wind before rain, of thin mountain air, of flying for the first time. She is the cool breeze in the midst of the stale Arizona heat, a tornado hidden beneath clear skies.

The door opens and all Takashi can think about is Adam and how much this feels like the first time he ever laid eyes on him. That same feeling of weightlessness right before he falls.

She is Power.

His Lion practically drips with it, the cool black of her metal heavy with its weight. She is the space between stars and the universe itself rests in her eyes.

When Takashi looks into them, all he can see are nebulae scattered across the cosmos and he feels a pull to join them in their merry dance within the endless darkness.

The last piece slides into place with a whisper. A fluttering of feathers at his back, a new weight to him.

The others surround him like the wind, gentle and caring. They each touch the feathers on his back, painting them with their essence. Campfires and ash. Sea salt and whale song. Mountains and glittering gems. Ivy vines and redwood saplings.

He glitters with the weight of commanding all elements, painted across his back for the world to see and judge.

His bond unfurls and shimmers with the iridescent colors of possibilities and promises.

***

A storm rings in her ears, the wind whipping around her and engulfing her in a hug. The calm of the night sky and all the space between its sparkling stars. The feeling of not knowing if you’re flying or falling. The sweet taste on the breeze after it rains.

A purple thread spins around her, twining itself around her wrist before darting off to do the same to the others, ending in a circle connecting them all before disappearing with a whisper. Lance laughs as the feeling of wholeness settles inside her, of never being alone again because you are no longer just _you_.

Joy engulfs her, spreading across to the others until their emotions are bleeding together and she can’t tell where one of them ends and the next begins. The space at the back of her mind, perfectly carved to hold five other minds, five other pieces of herself, is filled to the brim and humming merrily.

When the Black Lion raises her head and _roars_ , so loudly that it shakes the marrow in her bones, the compulsion to echo her is too much to fight.

So, she doesn’t.

The sound tears itself from her chest, inhuman and powerful and _so_ right. The room echoes with the booming cries of everyone, all ten of them, roaring in unison like a proper pride. Thunder rumbles through the Castle, echoing off walls and shaking the foundations. It fills Lance with an unnamable joy, and she doesn’t think she’ll ever stop smiling.

When the roar in her chest dies down into boisterous laughing, she throws herself at Hunk who faithfully spin her in circles before the pair drag everyone else into the hug, laughing and giddy and _so_ happy.

Above them, their Lions nuzzle and greet their eldest sister, their leader, with joyful abandon after so many centuries apart. Deafening purrs fill the room, shaking the Paladins and rattling their teeth but no one cares, too drunk on joy to notice. It’s been too long since this bond has been complete. Too long since they’ve all been together.

For a second, Lance thinks she can see an outline of large powerful wings flared out behind Shiro, glimmering with impossible colors and encircling them all in their width and she feels, for the first time since being in space, like she’s home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... there was a lot that happened in this chapter, huh? Some revelations, some backstory, some symbolism. I wonder if you caught it all, let me know in the comments below!  
> also like, Keith was way more fun to write than I expected?? There's just something about him I guess.


	9. Catnapped!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Confliction is one hell of a drug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, this chapter took so long! I think I rewrote the last half of it five times, it's just... really hard to write characters who have very little characterization in the actual show. Also, I wasn't entirely sure how I wanted this chapter to go so I'm finally glad to be done and semi-proud of how it turned out.  
> Also! a great big thank you to [eve-eleidan](https://eve-eleidan.tumblr.com) on tumblr for the lovely edit they made of Keith and Lance in their armour that you can find over [here](https://eve-eleidan.tumblr.com/post/184482504020/the-commission-is-a-gift-to-lady-literature-for) And thank you [shiranai-atsune](https://shiranai-atsune.tumblr.com) for commissioning it!

Lance lazily follows her best friend’s panicking form as he slowly runs a groove in the Bridge’s flooring with his erratic pacing. Something he’s been at since they all stepped into the Bridge.

Lance would be concerned if she wasn’t as used to his bouts of nervousness as she was. Though actually being able to feel the rolling of his panic and rapid heartbeat in her own chest is a novel experience.

At least they keep things interesting.

“Okay, but like, what are we going to do once we get there? What do you think?” he turns to Lance and asks her but keeps speaking before she can even try to respond. Not that she had tried to. “Should we go in there guns blazing? Or, I don’t know, make a public announcement? Law enforcement does that don’t they? ‘Galra. This is Voltron! Please turn yourselves in immediately!’” he looks around at them. “…Uh. They probably wouldn’t listen to us, right? Right.”

Lance finally steps in when he starts biting at his fingernails. When he steps close enough, she swats his hand away from his face and grabs the hand in her own.

 _“Tranquilízate_ , sugar pop. You’re going to give yourself wrinkles. Also, _atrocious_ cuticles.” she hums disappointedly at his fingers.

“How am I supposed to relax? Are we blasting or no? I need answers!”

Surprisingly, its Keith who steps in front of Hunk, arms raised placatingly. “Yes, we’re blasting. Now can you please sit down?”

“He’s just excited,” Shiro comments from where he was standing at parade rest off to the side. “It’s our first real mission.”

“Excited to see his new _girlfriend.”_ Pidge singsongs and Lance grins like the Cheshire Cat.

Hunk sputters out denials that would be believable if she hadn’t known him since they were in kindergarten. He might be believable to anybody but her actually. She’s known his tells for years now so maybe he’s actually good at lying?

That’s a strange thought.

Lance is about to comment on his apparent crush and newfound courageous heroism when the alarm blares.

She sits up abruptly, heart pounding in her chest as she looks towards Coran. Azura chirps confusedly in the back of her mind, trying to figure out why her charge is suddenly afraid.

“What’s that? Are we under attack?”

“No--” her shoulders relax a fraction. “--It appears to be a distress beacon. There’s a stranded ship on a nearby moon.”

Pidge is standing beside Coran to look at the console in an instant. Lance isn’t sure why she keeps doing it, all the controls are in Altean and it only serves to make her frustrated. “I wonder who it is?”

“Whoever they are, they’ll have to wait. Shay and their people come first.”

Lance shoots Hunk a look out of the corner of her eye. It’s not like him to leave people in need. He must be really worried about this Shay person.

Lance can’t wait to meet them. They must be really something if they’ve given her honeybee such a lasting impression.

“The Paladin Code states we must help all in need,” Allura scolds, already twisting her wild hair into a bun at the top of her head. “We don’t get to pick and choose. Coran, take us in.”

“Of course, Princess.”

Lance hops into a standing position. “Oh, this is so cool! We’re like the Space Police!” her eyes brighten as she gets an absolutely _brilliant_ idea. “Coran! Do we have a siren?”

He cocks his head to the side in a way that reminds Lance of a bird. “Ah, no. But I could record you making a siren noise and broadcast it to them if you wished?”

“Perfect!” She jumps the stairs to the bottom to get closer to the older alien. Halfway there she starts making the most obnoxious siren sound she can, her grin stretching wide across her face.

It makes Pidge and Keith cringe at the volume but if anything that just makes her louder.

A hand snaps over her mouth, cutting off the sound, surprising Lance and everyone else.

“Nope.” Shiro stares at her exasperated and tired. “We’re not doing that.”

Lance has half a mind to lick his hand in revenge. The only reason she doesn’t is because he’s in armour and she doesn’t think it will actually do anything.

She settles for squinting at him angrily instead.

It doesn’t have the desired effect.

***

Lance walks off the Castle ramp with a swagger in her steps.

It makes Hunk roll his eyes but he doesn’t get an opinion because he’s immune to her charms. She wants to make a good impression so she _will_ goddammit. There are only so many options in space, she’s not going to pass up her limited chances.

Hunk can disapprove all he likes.

The first thing she sees is what looks like some sort of cargo ship. It’s orange and white accents remind her of the Garrison’s training ships and she has to shove down the pang of guilt and pain at the thought of home.

Her gaze is soon drawn to the pair of aliens and small robot directly in front of the ship. There’s a taller one with purple skin and arms that could make a girl swoon. He--Lance thinks they’re a he?--gives off a lazy-bad-boy vibe with his aviator's cap, gold earrings and pretty, half-lidded eyes that Lance immediately likes _very much_.

Next to him stands a cream and yellow colored alien with feminine curves. Her skin looks to be covered in short fur and her hair is tied up in an odd looking ponytail with four tails. Her features are elf-like with large, purple eyes and pointed ears. She looks at Lance like she wants to eat her--in the good way.

Both of them are dressed sparingly, miles of chest and stomach on full display between the two. It’s enough to make her drool.

They’ve won the stranded alien lottery.

The tall, purple one laughs--really more of a self-depreciating scoff-- at something Keith said and Lance starts paying attention again.

“I don’t think Zarkon’s exactly _quaking in his boots_ at the thought of us… but we do what we can. I’m Rolo, by the way. This is Nyma,” he gestures to his feminine companion. “And our cyber-unit, Beezer.” He waves at the waist-high robot that reminds Lance of R2-D2 except slimmer and gray and fully upright. Also, it has cat ears.

Lance struts over to Nyma and gives the beauty a flourishing bow as she takes her hand, kissing the back of it with her Cheshire grin. “Why, _hello_ ,” she says with as much honeyed syrup her voice can muster. “The name’s Lance.”

Nyma giggles prettily, obviously used to reactions like this but flattered anyway.

Without missing a beat Lance turns to Rolo, winking at him shamelessly. “Though you can call me the girl of your dreams.”

Rolo’s eyes widen almost imperceptibly, his lazy grin freezing for a fraction of a second before it fades into something equally flirtatious.

Lance doesn’t miss the way his eyes flick to Nyma almost involuntarily. She files that reaction away for later.

Before he or she gets the chance to respond further, Shiro cuts in. “Was your ship damaged in a fight?”

Rolo refocuses his attention on their leader, still charming but less leering than he was with Lance. “Yeah. We’ve been really put through it by the Galra. Parts are hard to come by and I don’t know what would’ve happened if you hadn’t picked up our distress beacon.”

“We’re _happy_ to help,” Allura tells him, using her regal ‘princess’ voice. “I’m Princess Allura Raunne of the planet Altea. From now on you won’t have to fight the Galra alone, you’ll have the Paladins of Voltron on your side.” She gestured grandly to the team around her.

“…Okay.” Rolo looks around at them unimpressed. Lance understands. When Pidge is nerding out over their bot and Keith being all emo in his corner, they don’t look particularly terrifying.

“I don’t think he’s heard of us.”

“You haven’t heard of Voltron? Ya’ know, five magical robot Lions that combine into one giant robotic warrior? Not that size _matters_ or anything, but we are _pretty_ big.” Lance smirks. The innuendo gets a startled laugh from both Rolo _and_ Nyma. She does a victory dance in her head

_“Lance.”_

“What?” she asks feigning innocence. “I’m not _lying!_ I think it’s important for new partners to know the best qualities of each other. First impressions and all that.” She wiggles her eyebrows half suggestively half-jokingly at Rolo and Nyma. Rolo looks amused, his eyes crinkling at the corners while Nyma giggles into her hand.

“Well, aren’t you a fun little thing?” Nyma tells her, leaning forward almost imperceptibly.

Lance leans forward far more obviously, fluttering her lashes. _“Darling,”_ she drawls. “you have _no_ idea.”

“Can we get started on fixing your ship?” Hunk interrupts impatiently. Lance turns to him, finally noticing the unease and frustration moving along the bond in agitated little spins. She places a hand on her hip and raises her eyebrow, silently asking what his deal is.

The scowl that was on his face--so alien considering his normal hundred-watt smile--softens a hair as he looks at her but he just shakes his head.

_‘Not now.’_

Lance rolls her eyes at his theatrics but leaves him be. She figures he’s just anxious to get back to the Balmerans. And if it’s something else? She’ll just badger him about it later.

Turning back to the two aliens she sees Rolo dragging his gaze away from where her hand had been on her hip. When she catches his eyes she smirks triumphantly before flicking her bangs out of her face and turning completely to Nyma, leaving him to run off and play engines with Hunk.

“So, what’s a pretty girl like you doing out here fighting a war?” Lance asks as Nyma leads them off away from the group towards a group of crates.

“I could ask you the same thing,” Nyma quips as she fluidly jumps onto a supply crate, crossing her legs in a way that’s completely unfair. Lance follows the movement before shaking her head and raising her eyes back to Nyma’s. She finds the other girl smirking at her and Lance’s eyes narrow playfully.

So it’s going to be like that, is it?

Well, two can play at that game.

“Say,” Lance leans forward exaggeratedly, her eyelashes fluttering. “Do you happen to be the sun? Because I’m feeling a pull towards you I just can’t fight.”

Nyma giggles like she’s surprised she’s doing it and Lance decides right there that she’s going to hear that laugh as many times as she can.

That’s how Lance finds herself doing ridiculous poses and over exaggeratedly declaring her love for Nyma through pick up lines and finger guns for the next twenty minutes. Nyma isn’t one to be outdone though and joins in on the fun turning it into some strange version of gay chicken.

Lance is dramatically moaning Shakespeare while sprawled across a crate, her leg raised to the sky as high as it can go--which is pretty high actually, thank you, six years of gymnastics--when Nyma starts laughing loudly and unrestrained, cutting off what Lance had been saying. She tries looking offended for a total of two seconds before Nyma snort-laughs at her expression and Lance can’t help joining her.

That’s how Hunk finds them, the two hanging off each other in order to keep themselves upright. When she sees him, her smile widens. “Boo Bear! How lovely for you to join us! We were just talking about-”

“Can I speak to you?” His eyes flick to Nyma who’s still giggling but there’s something more reserved about it now, maybe she’s embarrassed? Lance didn’t take her for the type. “Alone?”

Lance blinks, head tilted in confusion. “Uh, sure.” She turns back to Nyma with a wide smile. “Be but a moment, love,” she says before bouncing after Hunk.

He doesn’t stop walking until they’re well out of earshot. Lance can feel the worry and uneasiness around him like a cloud. It makes her stomach do a flip.

“What’s wrong, honeybee? Is everything okay?”

He shifts from foot to foot in front of her, a nervous habit that is at odds with the look on his face which is more focused and grumpy than worried.

He brings his eyes up to her own and very seriously tells her, “I don’t trust them.”

Lance tilts her head, still bouncy and loose but dampening with worry for Hunk. “Why do you say that?”

Hunk’s shoulder drops a fraction as if he was scared she’d just brush him off and is relieved she didn’t. Lance stops herself from turning and glaring at the group of her fellow Paladins clustered around the fire. She will have _words_ if she finds out that one of them decided to ridicule Hunk for anything he had said.

“Something’s _off_ with them.”

“Is it how hot they are?” Lance jokes lightly and leans around his shoulder to blow a kiss at Nyma. She’s hoping to lighten the mood because a Sad Hunk is a Bad Hunk. “Because they are hot like burning. _¡Dios mio!”_ she fans her face. “It’s okay if you have the hots for Rolo, I told you’d have your sexual awakening at _some point._ Gotta say, didn’t think it’d be aliens that did it though.”

“Lance, I’m _serious_.”

“So am I!”

 _“Lance,”_ he stresses, visibly upset.

“Okay! Okay, I’m sorry.” She raises her hands in surrender, concern filling her voice. “I believe you.” After a moment she asks, “What tipped you off?” because while Hunk will act on his own in relation to his gut feelings, he rarely brings her into it until he has concrete evidence.

Mostly because he doesn't want Lance to get into more trouble than she already does on her own.

“There’s nothing wrong with their rig. Rolo had me replace a thermal pipe but the old one wasn’t even _cracked_. I should’ve had to replace the whole undercarriage if there was actually anything wrong with the pipe because it all would’ve been burnt to-”

Lance cuts him off before he can go into a rant about engineering. She’s heard him talk about it enough and according to him, they have more important things to worry about anyway. “What do you want me to do about it?”

“I think they might want something from us. Information brokers or bounty hunters?” he pauses. “But if so then what are they after?”

Lance hums, “Nyma hasn’t been digging for any information. Or at least, nothing I’ve noticed.”

Hunk snorts disapprovingly, “Yeah, but you’ve been a bit preoccupied from what I’ve seen.”

“Hey!” she whacks him on the shoulder, mock offense dripping from her tone. “Forgive _me,_ for having a little _fun._ Not like I’ve just been through a traumatic experience or anything!”

Hunk’s face twitches, his eyebrows furrowing with hurt and Lance instantly feels bad. Before she can apologize for putting her foot in her mouth though, Hunk starts speaking.

“Rolo’s been asking about the Castle and the Lions ever since he noticed you and Nyma were getting along. Maybe it’s something along those lines?”

Lance hums. “Leave it to me.”

He looks down at her warily. “I hate when you say that.”

“I think you mean; you _love_ when I say that.”

“Just be careful? Please?” he grabs her hand, face serious. “You just- You almost-” he takes a deep breath and gathers himself. “I can’t lose you.”

Lance softens. “I’m with you until the end of the line, sweet puff. Couldn’t get rid of me if you tried.” She pops up on her tiptoes to peck him on the cheek, patting him lightly where her lips had just been. “I’ll be fine okay? I know what I’m doing.”

“Listening to stories of your cousins doing these type of things does not qualify as actual experience,” Hunk deadpans.

Lance rolls her eyes at him. “You know it’s more than just stories. Just because I’ve never had _practical_ experience-”

“I am _so_ not having this argument again.”

She sticks her tongue out at him childishly. “You’re just upset you’re not cool enough to be in our street gang,” Lance jokes.

 _“Please,_ stop calling it that.”

“Never!” she crows before bouncing back towards Nyma, seemingly just as happy as when she left. But if one would look closely at her, they’d be able to see a certain sharpness in her gaze. A dangerous edge to her smile where previously there had only been mischief and humor.

She looks ready to eat someone alive--and this time _not_ in the fun way.

“What was that all about?”

“Hmm? Oh, Hunk’s just worried.”

“About?” Nyma prompts a little too casually.

“There are people he wants to save on a nearby planet, owes them a debt you know?” Lance looks at her out of the corner of her eye, leaning on the crate Nyma was back to perching on.

The other girl’s expression tightened a fraction and Lance acts like she doesn’t notice. Now that she’s looking for the signs though, carefully measuring action and reaction, it takes more effort for Lance _not_ to notice.

“We took a detour to help you guys, but he’s still worried about them. We don’t really know how much time they have or if they’re okay so… he’s anxious.”

“Oh. Uh, sorry then.”

“Not your fault.” Lance shrugs. “Your ship broke down. Not much you can do about _that_.”

Something flickers across Nyma’s face and Lance knows Hunk was right. They’re up to _something._

Lance acts like she doesn’t notice the disappointment in her chest.

“So… I’m curious, do you mind if I ask a question?” Nyma tilts her head, all innocence and honest curiosity.

Not seeing the harm, Lance says, “Go ahead.”

“Your Lions-” Lance’s shoulders tense for a fraction of a second. The way Nyma says ‘your Lions’ rubbing her the wrong way. As if she thought they were just possessions. _Things_ to be used and nothing else. “They are ships?”

“Yeah, I _guess_ you could say that,” she says slowly. “But that’s a very simplified term for what the Lions are.”

“Oh?” Nyma prompts.

Lance waffles for a moment before deciding that it’s an innocent enough question and answers. “Well, the Lions are actually super advanced hybrids of science and magic supposedly blessed by the Goddess. Their beings of great power and prestige that, according to Allura and Coran, no one but the Paladins of Old knew much about. Azura, she’s my Lion, she tells me that they were brought to life to protect the universe, but they need us, mortal pilots, to help them. I’m not too sure _why-_ ”

“Wait,” Nyma interrupts, hand raised in front of her. “Your Lion is… alive?”

“Well, _duh._ There’s no way I would be able to fly Azura all by myself, she’s my co-pilot. But even more than that she’s… she’s a part of me.” Lance places a hand over the bond in her chest, feeling the warmth thrumming against her palm.

Azura purrs in her mind, nuzzling against her softly with happy trills.

Lance is so focused on the feeling; she doesn’t notice the sad and regretful look Nyma shoots her before the alien shakes her head and squares her shoulders.

“She sounds amazing.” Lance jolts, half-forgetting Nyma was sitting there. “I would love to meet her.” Nyma looks up at the Castle longingly.

Lance shifts uncomfortably. “Oh, I don’t think that’s a good idea…”

“Oh, but please?” she pleads, eyes wide and childlike. “It’s such a rare opportunity to meet Voltron, not to mention their Lions!”

Lance wavers. Nyma looks so earnest and curious and Lance is a sucker for puppy dog eyes. She casts a glance over at Hunk, biting her lip before sighing roughly.

“Okay… But just a few minutes!”

Nyma gives her a megawatt smile, jumping off the crate gracefully and hooking her arm with Lance’s. The pair tromp off through the makeshift camp and Lance takes the opportunity to look over the scene. Pidge still seems enamored with Beezer who looks less than thrilled with the attention and Keith, Shiro and Allura are all being bumps on a log around the fire. They look like they’re talking about _something,_ but Lance isn’t curious enough to find out.

They pass by Rolo who’s on his back and tinkering with the undercarriage Hunk said was perfectly fine. Lance appreciates the view for a moment and because she can’t resist, wolf whistles at him.

It makes all the aliens in the vicinity jump, which wasn’t exactly her intention, but a funny reaction nonetheless. He slides out, looking at her in curiosity and bewilderment.

“Yes?”

“Just appreciating the view,” she tells him, giving him a thorough once over because she can and it’s not like Rolo _minds._ “Oh, also I’m stealing your girlfriend for a sec. Hope you don’t mind?”

Surprise flickers across Rolo’s face before she sees the corner of his mouth twitch, his lazy smirk desperately wanting to grow into a grin. “I don’t know what you're talking about,” he says, something like approval in his voice.

She hums in agreement, if only to humor him. Because _honestly_ , only a blind person would miss the way Nyma keeps herself tilted towards him or how Rolo steals glances at her if he thinks he can get away with it. It’s _painfully_ obvious.

“Of course,” she agrees in a voice that tells him the opposite. And then, because she knows he won’t actually come along, tells him, “You’re still invited to the party. I’m always willing to make room for one more…” she pauses, looking at him pointedly. _“Personality.”_

Behind her, she can hear Allura choke-cough in surprise and Pidge is gagging somewhere off to her left. She ignores both of them in favor of wiggling her eyebrows at Rolo.

“I’m flattered really,” he chuckles, that honey-smooth voice warm with humor. At her side, Nyma leans further into her, smile wicked as she looks between Lance and Rolo. “But I should focus on getting this fixed. Maybe another time.”

Lance pouts at him. “If you’re sure…” Nyma bumps her hip against hers, grinning. Lance returns it and they both turn to blow kisses at Rolo before walking off, hips swinging tantalizingly.

She doesn’t look back, but she can feel the eyes on her. Her smirk gets wider.

***

“What a woman.”

“You’ll keep your hands off her if you know what best for you.” Hunk calls from where he’s buried in the engine, pretending to clank around and fix things when really, he’s committing the rig to memory so he can rebuild it later. It’s really a work of art.

Too bad he has to destroy it.

“Jealous?” Rolo calls as Hunk pops off a bolt he’s pretty sure was important but not important enough to like, make the rig _explode_ or anything. Probably.

Hunk laughs at the absurdity of that statement. “As if!” he rolls out so he can look Rolo in the eye. “Just a warning.”

Rolo raises an eyebrow at him, clearly unimpressed.

Hunk rolls his eyes, crawling back under the engine with a huff. “Suit yourself. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

For as long as Hunk’s known her, there isn’t a single person who’s fallen into Lance’s orbit that was able to get out of it. She pulls people to her without even trying, collecting them like celestial bodies.

She could break you into tiny pieces then scatter you across the universe and all you’d be able to do is _thank_ her.

***

Lance leads Nyma to Blue’s hangar, carefully keeping up a steady stream of banter and subtle digging. She doesn’t mean to, but the longer they talked, the more Lance’s guard dropped.

She wasn’t trying to, really!

She knows Hunk is right. She knows that Nyma and Rolo are _definitely_ up to something. She _knows_ that the pair are all danger and trouble and carefully crafted facades but, well, it’s not like Lance hadn’t grown up around the same kind of people her entire childhood. Some of them being her own family!

That kind of thing tends to… _skew_ one’s perception of a situation.

But these people aren’t her family. They’re not even her _species_. They have no reason not to hurt her. No reason not to take what they please and leave her behind without a care in their minds.

They don’t hold any _loyalty_ to her.

It’s just that… Lance can’t help but _like_ Nyma and Rolo. And not just in a ‘they’re so hot’ kind of way, but in a ‘you remind me of home and people I love, and I think we’d get along great if you would only let me _try’_ kind of way _._

So, Lance is trying. She’s trying for these people who are probably lying through their teeth and she doesn’t _care_ because there is the slimmest chance that she might get to keep them after this and _that_ is the only thing that matters.

Lance belongs to a large family. She’s going to get her large family back or die trying. But in the meantime? She’ll build herself a new one.

Then, when she gets back home, she’ll have an even bigger family!

So yeah, maybe it’s not smart or clever or anything that makes even a _lick_ of sense, but Lance has never claimed to be any of those things. She’s a thousand and one contradictions rolled into the vague shape of a human mess and that’s all she plans on being.

Besides, it’s Hunk’s job to be the suspicious one.

He’s much better at it than she is anyway. Where he is smart and slow to trust, Lance is bubbly and too friendly and _painfully_ naive.

She likes people. Likes seeing the best in them and talking with them and just being around them.

Sometimes that leads her to trusting too quickly and winding up hurt but she never stops. Call her stupid or innocent or a thousand different things, but she knows what she’s doing.

Knows for every time she opens up, there’s a chance she’ll get hurt. Knows that if she chances the fall, she may end up on the ground.

Lance likes people.

But she also needs them.

Needs them like water to survive.

Needs them like rain or ocean waves.

And, well, when it comes to drowning or dehydration? She’ll choose to drown every time.

***

_“Do not confuse kindness with weakness, mi Cielo.” Her Abuelita cups her small, chubby face between old, weathered hands speckled with scars and calluses. They’re comforting hands, warm and kind despite all the stories her Abuelita tells her of how they were used for anything but. “There is great strength in those who hold the heart of a lion beneath their lamb-like spirits. Do not let those weaker than you tell you otherwise.”_

_Lance nods seriously, her small face set in a stubborn frown far too mature for her young face. She doesn’t really understand what her Abuelita is trying to say, but she always speaks like this. In cryptic words that mean everything and nothing all at once._

_Lance knows they’re important. She knows they mean_ something, _so she always makes sure she listens. She stands there, too small and with too many things set on her too young shoulders and she_ remembers.

_She carefully folds the words and tucks them safely away in a box next to her heart where she keeps all her Abuelita's lessons she doesn’t yet understand but is determined to one day._

***

 _“Whoa,”_ Nyma breathes, awed in the presence of Azura. Lance isn’t sure if it’s just her or not, but it seems like Azura’s taking up the whole hangar. Her aura flooding the space and leaving her breathless.

Lance carefully watches Nyma’s reaction, gauging any threat the other may propose to her Lion. After finding nothing of interest, Lance doesn’t feel bad about hiding a smirk behind her hand because, yeah, Azura’s amazing and deserving of praise but that doesn’t mean it isn’t hilarious to watch Nyma fawn over her.

When Azura moves on her own, crouching down to their level, Nyma almost jumps a foot in the air and Lance can’t help the laugh that escapes her lips. The look Nyma sends her after she hears it only makes Lance laugh harder.

When her pouting gets to be too much, Lance grabs her hand and pulls her towards Azura whose gazing at them curiously, her tail catching the light as she flicks it back and forth behind her.

“Azura,” she says confidently walking forward with a far more nervous Nyma trailing behind. “I would like you to meet Nyma. Nyma, this is Azura, the Blue Lion. Also known as the best kitty in the _whole universe_.”

Azura makes a rumbling sound that Nyma can hear too, the vibration humming along the floor and tickling their feet. She’s obviously enjoying Lance stroking her ego and Nyma’s careful wonder as she looks up at her. Warmth bubbles along the bond and Lance’s smile widens.

For a moment, Nyma looks conflicted as she stares up at Azura, her expression almost pained as she stares into the endless ocean that are Azura’s eyes. Then the moment passes and Nyma is back to smiling nervously.

“It’s a pleasure to meet you, Blue Lion,” Nyma says, dipping her head respectfully towards Azura.

Azura hums appreciatively. _“Tell her the pleasure is most definitely mine.”_

Lance does and Nyma smiles, blinking up at the hulking figure of the Lion.

“She’s beautiful,” she breathes, voice little more than a whisper. In a flash, Nyma spins to Lance grabbing her hands in her own and bringing them up to their chests. “Take me on a ride around the moon?” she asks hopefully.

Lance gapes for a moment, lost for words and scrambling for something to say, a decision to come to.

“Oh, please? It would be amazing to ride in one of _the_ Voltron Lions! And you’d get to show off along with your blue beauty over there.” Nyma jerks her head towards Azura, a flirtatious grin on her lips.

Nyma can’t, _shouldn’t,_ be trusted. Lance should say no.

She can’t put Azura in danger with whatever Nyma is planning. Lance should say _no._

She hesitates too long and the smile fades from Nyma’s lips. “Okay. That’s fine. I understand if you not comfortable with that. Maybe I could ask Keith to show me around his Lion instead?”

“No!” Lance blurts before she even realizes what she’s saying or what Nyma was implying.

Her first thought is that Keith doesn’t know the plan. He doesn’t know Nyma and Rolo are dangerous. He’ll _ruin_ everything.

Her second thought is that why would Nyma even want to _talk_ to Keith anyway? She’s pretty sure the boy is asexual or something so it’s not like she’s going to get very far in whatever she’s planning anyway.

Nyma immediately brightens, tugging Lance by her hands and pulling her into Azura’s waiting maw. Lance doesn’t _immediately_ regret her words, but it’s a near thing.

***

Infiltrating certain high-class social circles took _far_ less time than Francisca had expected.

She had expected that with her well off family and growing presence in the fashion industry it wouldn’t have been _impossible,_ but it also would have been far from _easy._ The rich types are gatekeepers and are hardly ones to allow entry to a ‘commoner’ such as herself just because she _asked._

So, yes. She had been prepared to start frequenting the more expensive boutiques and tailors more often than she normally would have, making nice with certain designers and hunting down military socialites by herself.

She had _not_ been prepared for one such socialite to fall into her lap.

She’d only been visiting her dear friend Gavin to drag him out of his sewing room and out to get coffee--she swore he was getting paler every time she saw him--and wasn’t anticipating any progress in her endeavor except possibly getting Gavin to agree to keep an eye out for her.

But then Antonia Santos had swept in the shop with a flourish of shimmering gold and crimson. She was a whirlwind of demands and sharp smiles and a certain steal that Francisca had not expected from the wife of the Brigadier General.

She carried herself with an air of power that, as far as Francisca could see, was rightfully _earned_ and not handed to her with a wedding ring. It made her curious.

When Antonia had begun yelling at some young tailor for something or other, Francisca stepped in with charming smiles and deft hands, saving the poor idiot. She had wanted her ball gown fitted and embellished, both of which Francisca had done in under two hours.

When she had finished, Antonia had taken one look at herself in the mirror and turned back to Francisca to demand her name.

“Francisca Martinez.”

Antonia hummed at the name, her blood red lips curling at the edges. “You have much talent,” she says, a light Italian accent coloring her words. “Are you any good at designing?”

Francisca straightened to her full height, which was a lot even without her three-inch Jimmy Choos, “I’m one of the best.”

Antonia laughs then, bright and full of amusement. “You have _fire._ It is a good thing for powerful women to have, no?”

Francisca grins, all teeth, and Antonia returns one of the same.

They are creatures of a similar breed it seems.

Antonia snaps her fingers and the PA who had been standing at the side silently quickly moves into action, dropping a small purse into her waiting hand. Antonia slips perfectly manicured nails into the stylish bag and pulls out a crisp, golden card.

“My personal contact information,” she hands Francisca the gleaming card which she tucks away without looking at. “Call me should you want a job.”

Francisca raises a perfectly shaped eyebrow. “I already have a job, but-” she picks a card out of her own purse, silvery blue and ivory, “call me if _you_ ever need a great designer.”

Antonia’s lips twitch upwards, amused by the gall of her. “You young children these days. So _disrespectful_.”

Francisca only grins because she can see the approval in Antonia’s eyes and knows she’s won something _very_ important.

She decides to get herself some gelato to celebrate her victory, golden card tucked safely away and shimmering with new possibilities.

***

“So, where do you want to go?” Lance asks, rubbing at the grips nervously in an attempt to soothe her slowly fraying nerves. Having Nyma in Azura’s cockpit is making Lance feel vulnerable-- _exposed--_ despite her trying her best not to show it.

“Oh, down there!” Nyma says excitedly, pointing to a purple lake. Lance doesn’t miss how the move brings Nyma’s face purposefully closer to her own. “Near the water. It’s a kinetic spring. There are minerals inside that turn the reflections into a rainbow.”

Lance hums, intrigued. “Sounds like nerd stuff Pidge would like.”

She pushes Azura down into a steep dive causing Nyma to yelp at the sudden change. Then, right before they hit the water, Lance pulls her up in a smooth arc, dragging Azura’s paws across the surface of the water and making the air around them explode in color.

Her Lion trills happily in her head and it makes Lance relax just a bit. Azura is fine.

Azura will _be_ fine.

On a whim, or maybe a silent suggestion from Azura, Lance pushes them beneath the waves. The change is instantaneous.

Lance’s blood _thrums_. She feels like a live wire, electricity and power humming just below her skin like it’s _alive_. Just _waiting_ to be released.

A laugh tears itself from her throat, no longer able to contain the joy bubbling in her chest.

This feels better than _flying._

She feels _alive._

Whale song and the gentle crashing of waves fill her head and Lance _longs._ Longs for the open sea and the rain and the _water._

She pulls Azura out of the water.

If she doesn't do it then, she doesn’t think she ever will.

 _“Whoa,”_ Lance says breathlessly before blinking the stars from her eyes and refocusing on where she is. “You must be pretty smart to know about that.”

It takes Nyma a moment to understand what she’s saying but when she does, she tilts herself away, twirling one of her ponytails to hide her face. “Oh, I wouldn’t call myself that smart.”

Lance scoffs. _“Please._ Don’t sell yourself short, I’ve been surrounded by geniuses my entire life. I can recognize a smart person when I see them.”

Nyma doesn’t really respond to that with anything more than an absent-minded hum but when Lance looks at her, she finds a look of immense pride on her face. Lance wonders when the last time someone recognized her brain over her beauty. Wonders when the last time anyone other than Rolo even _tried_ to see past her masks.

Almost like a mirror to her thoughts, Nyma’s eyes harden and the prideful look falls from her face, twisting into that honey sweet expression that now looks so fake. Lance’s shoulders hunch imperceptibly.

“I am curious.”

Lance gives her a wary sidelong glance. “About?”

“You said the Lions need a mortal pilot but... can that be anybody?”

Something in Lance _violently_ rejects even the _idea_ of someone else piloting Azura. The feeling is so sudden and powerful, she jerks forward in her chair, a snarl on her lips. Nyma jumps backward, something like fear in her eyes and it’s then that Lance realizes she’s _growling._ The sound vibrating from her chest and echoing through the walls of the cockpit, her own personal thunderstorm.

It takes Lance a long moment to calm herself back down, rubbing soothing circles into the hand grips for both her and Azura’s benefit.

After that, it’s deadly silent in the cockpit.

Lance clears her throat awkwardly, refusing to meet Nyma’s eyes. “Ah, _no_. There is no one else who can pilot the Lions.”

 _No one who would_ dare, a familiar darkness hisses in her mind.

“There’s not-- there’s only us. Anyone else who tries would just… crash and burn.”

Nyma coughs awkwardly, Lance doesn’t turn to look at her, but out of the corner of her eye, she can see how uncomfortable she is. “Do you mind if we, we could land down there.”

She gestures vaguely to the shoreline and Lance hurriedly obliges, wanting to get out of the stifling air of the cockpit. Nyma hurries out the second they touch down and Lance lets her run ahead, wanting to get herself back under control.

She hadn’t felt anything that _viscerally_ since…

Lance shakes her head, dislodging the thought. It’s been too long to start thinking about _that_ again.

An involuntary shiver runs down her spine.

She’s going to need to spend the night with Hunk but, _ugh,_ they painted their nails only a few days ago. She’s going to have to figure out something _else_ for them to do now.

Lance exhales loudly before pushing up off the seat, following off after Nyma. Before she walks out of Azura completely, she gives her Lion a comforting pat that Azura returns with a reassuring purr. Telling her she’s still there, that it will be okay.

She finds Nyma standing on the shoreline, looking over the water. Her arms are crossed, and it looks like she’s hugging herself. She looks… small.

_Trapped._

Lance realizes then, _why_ she reminds her so much of her family. It’s not just the bounty hunter thing or the gooey insides hidden behind hard masks or how she’s always looking over her shoulder.

She’s running from something. Something _terrifying._

Her and Rolo and their bot, they’re all _scared._

Lance steps out next to her on the strange, purple not-sand.

“You know. I’ve known a few bounty hunters in my lifetime.” Nyma stiffens, her eyes wide as she stares at Lance who looks back calmly, posture relaxed. “Family friends, you know? Some of them were good guys, some of them weren’t.” she shrugs. “It hardly mattered, they had a place at the dinner table whenever they wanted because they had nowhere else to go. Because they had nowhere else to feel _safe_.”

Lance holds Nyma’s stare, keeps her body open and loose. Lets her know _she isn’t a threat._

“Why,” Nyma starts, licks her lips then tries again, voice stronger this time. “Why are you telling me this?”

“Because you’re scared,” she answers simply. “Because you and Rolo and Beezer are all running from something.” Lance pauses, “Because I want to help you.”

Nyma stares at her, something unreadable on her face. Not for Lance’s lack of trying either, it just that things are appearing and disappearing from her expression too quickly to keep track of.

For a long moment, it’s silent. Nothing but the sound of the waves crashing on the not-sand to fill the space between them as the pair stare at each other. Neither willing to look away first.

Then, “Can I show you something?”

Tentative hope flutters in Lance’s chest. Perhaps Nyma’s decided to trust her, at least a little bit. Perhaps Lance hadn’t been so naive this time. “Sure.”

Lance steps towards her eagerly.

It’s as if time slows down and speeds up all at once. Nyma moves faster than Lance can track, but the moment her hand touches her wrist, all Lance can see is everything falling apart tauntingly slowly.

Before she knows it, she’s tied to a tree, her wrists bound in front of her and cuffs humming against her skin. The hope settles in her stomach like a lead weight as she tugs desperately at the glowing rope. Nyma slowly backs away and in her mind, all she can hear is Azura yowling in alarm.

Lance starts _panicking._

How could she be so _stupid?_

She _knew._ She _told_ herself they weren’t loyal to her. She _knew_ and she still- still did _this._ These bloodied hunters who are all broken edges and sharpened teeth who hold no honor.

She had been _blind._

 _“No_.” It starts a quiet whisper before turning into a desperate scream. Disbelief and denial before transforming into panic and anger. “No, no, _no!_ Nyma, please! Don’t do this! I can _help!_ Don’t do this!¨

In front of her, the young and seductive Nyma melts away before her eyes, leaving behind a battle-hardened and sad facsimile of the girl. Lance tugs at her cuffs harder, the humming louder in her ears now. A voice in the back of her mind, dark and creeping and nothing like the great roaring of Azura whispers to her.

_One day that will be you. Broken and abused._

_This war will_ eat you alive.

Nyma shakes her head at her, “No, Lance, you can’t.”

Harsh winds spin around Lance, pulling her hair from its bun and sending it thrashing around her shoulders. Their ship, the one they claimed was broken, lowers rigging to begin pulling the Lion, _her_ Lion into their ship.

Lance can feel Azura snarl and scream in her head, the sound deafening and scoring across the inside of her mind leaving jagged gouges in its wake. It cuts into her, but Lance holds firm. Azura doesn’t thrash against the ropes, doesn’t slash and cut and maim because Lance begs her not too.

They don’t hurt people.

It doesn’t matter that in that moment Lance _hates_ Nyma with every fiber of her being.

She’s still a person and she is _scared._ Lance can see it in her eyes. Nyma is running terrified and thinks this is the only way to survive.

They don’t kill desperate people.

Her chest _burns_ as they raise Azura, limp behind her forcefield, into the ship. The anchor in her chest _pulls_ at her and Lance screams into the uncaring sky.

She doesn’t hear the way Nyma mutters how sorry she is. How her face seems to sag with guilt.

She wouldn’t care anyway.

Her chest is ripping her apart from the inside and she can _feel_ every inch Azura moves farther away. Where Azura had been a gentle ocean, deep and unending and calm in the back of her mind, a desert now scores through her instead. Drought takes her lungs and all she can breathe is sand.

Every breath is pain and she can’t _stand._

She hits the ground so hard her knees jar her body, but it is nothing compared to the massacre in her chest.

Lance feels as if she’s drying up, roasting in the heat of a burning star as she wails for a rainstorm.

Her vision fades in and out and it’s not until the echo in her chest starts pounding next to her heart, does she break free from the pain. She is dazed but the echo grounds her. She grabs at it with bloody, burnt hands and _breathes._

Her hands fumble for the comm activation and when Hunk’s panicked voice fills her ear Lance sobs.

_“Lance! Lance, what’s wrong? The Lions are freaking out, what happened?”_

It takes three tries for her to get any sound out of her burning throat. But when she does, it feels more like vomiting sand than speaking. _“They have Azura. They took her, oh god, they have her, Hunk, please, I- pain._ I need her back.”

Distantly, she’s aware she wasn’t speaking English. The thought is quickly forgotten in her haze of pain.

Unintelligible noises on the other end flood her ears and she thinks she might have whimpered.

The cord connecting her to Azura is so tight it feels like it will rip itself out of her chest and take everything important with it.

_“We’ll get her back, okay? Sit tight, Lance. Allura will be there soon.”_

She whimpers out an affirmative before the line goes dead. The echo in her chest keeps pounding in time with her heart, it almost feels like it’s trying to spread through her, fill the gaps caused by the theft of her Lion.

Lance doesn’t notice Allura’s at her side until the princess unlocks her and she’s already falling into her chest, sobbing as much as her sand grain tears will allow.

She doesn’t know how long she sits there, cowering in the shadow of the tree, whimpering as a part of her is taken farther and farther away.

It could’ve been second or years, the pain makes everything blurry. She’s always in pain these days it seems.

Then the pain turns from a visceral tearing to a dull ache and Lance chokes at the loss of it. Her heart hammering and her echo right behind it.

Then out of nowhere, like liquid relief and nicotine and every other relaxing drug she can name, she feels Azura running back to her. She moves with lightning speed and Lance doesn’t think she’s ever been this fast.

Maybe it’s like a rubber band, snapping back to her. The tension releasing as she gets closer and closer.

Her comm crackles back to life and Keith is screaming in her ear. He tells her the Azura ran off, that they can’t catch her. She too fast, fluid, flexible.

They all sound so worried.

As if her Lion would run anywhere but back to her.

She stops listening when Azura lands in front of her, sliding to a stop only inches from where Lance is still curled in Allura’s lap. She falls into the familiar metal like she was pulled, the desert washed away by cool rain and thunderstorms.

Suddenly Lance can breathe again, her aching sand filled lungs cooled by the ocean in her chest. She presses her hand into the cool metal of her Lion like she’s reaching for the clouds and the clouds reach back.

Her mind is a litany of purring and whining and _‘Paladin, Paladin. I am so sorry. Why wouldn’t you let me fight. Never again. My Paladin. Paladin. Paladin.’_

It’s the sweetest music Lance has ever heard.

***

Five minutes later, she gets herself pulled together enough that she can fly both her and Allura back to the Castle. They land a bit harder than strictly necessary, the ground shaking from the force of it.

Rolo and Nyma and their bot sit in front of their--now _actually_ broken down--spaceship. The other paladins all surround them in a semi-circle, glaring at the bounty hunters for all their worth.

Lance stumbles from Azura and storms up to the group, face set in stormy anger. The closer she gets to them, the harder Nyma clutches onto Rolo’s hand, the pair curled towards each other as if waiting for some killing blow.

She reaches the circle and Hunk tries to stop her a hand on her shoulder. Lance whirls to face him, teeth bared and in no mood for soft-hearted words.

She wants _answers._

Hunk stares at her for a moment, his face sad, but lets go all the same. He’s seen this song and dance before, perhaps not from her specifically, but that hardly matters. It’s all the same when it comes to the Martinez family.

Her footsteps echo in the quiet air, the tensions thick as she stops before the bounty hunters.

“Look at me.”

Neither of them moves.

Lance bristles.

 _“Look at me,”_ she snaps and Nyma raises her gaze, flinching away at the tear marks no doubt on Lance’s cheeks. Altean setting spray will only hold so much.

Lance draws herself up to her full height, looming over the pair for all she’s worth. She’s aware she must look crazed, what with her messed up hair and smeared makeup and the wild light in her eyes. She takes full advantage of her appearance.

Nothing is more terrifying than someone who looks insane, acting cold and rational.

You never know when they’re going to snap.

“How _dare_ you?” she demands, voice cold and one wrong move from cracking with the emotion hidden behind it.

Shiro steps towards her in her peripherals, moving before Hunk can stop him. “Lance, maybe you should-”

Lance spins towards him, a snarl on her lips and fury in her eyes. “Back off, Shiro! This is none of your concern.”

Shiro looks taken aback by her animosity. Distantly, Lance feels bad about that. She had hoped she would be able to keep the dark and broken parts of her away from them for a little longer. Just because Hunk understands and still loves her, doesn’t mean that these almost-strangers will.

But right now, she’s frazzled and angry and _she wants answers._ She’ll deal with the fallout later.

She always does.

“Now hold on,” he tries again, voice calm. “We’re all upset but we need to-”

“No.” Lance cuts in, voice flat and forceful as she turns back to Nyma and Rolo who are still curled towards each other. “They _betrayed_ us. Betrayed _me._ I don’t like people who _lie_ to me or mine.” Her eyes narrow and she steps closer to the pair. “Not only did they _lie,”_ she spits the word, “But they also put us all in danger. So, _pray tell,_ ” she growls. “What was so important you thought it was worth it to get on my bad side?”

Nyma and Rolo stay silent.

 _“Answer me!”_ she shouts. “Why not ask for the help I was so willing to give? Why not _tell me_ what you were running from when I _asked?”_

“Because we _couldn’t,_ ” Nyma snaps. “We can’t trust anyone. The galra slaughter all in their path and Rolo and I have caused too much trouble for them. We’re as good as _dead_ without a Lion.”

“You’re as good as dead _with_ a Lion!” Lance snaps. “Do you understand how close you came to being _torn apart?_ Azura would have _killed_ you to get back to me. The only reason she hadn’t being _I told her not to.”_

Lance leans down, pushing herself into their space. “I _told_ you, I _warned_ you, about the power you were messing with. But did you listen? Did you even _think-”_

“Look, we’re sorry, okay?” Rolo interrupts, voice frustrated and scared. “We didn’t know what else to _do._ ”

“So that makes it okay? That makes everything better?” Lance snaps, pacing in front of them, waving her hands in the air agitatedly. “‘Oh, I’m sorry, we didn’t _mean_ to.’ Just because you didn’t mean to doesn’t mean people weren’t _hurt!”_

Her voice echoes around in the still air and Lance resolutely does _not_ look at Keith. This is not about them. That doesn’t _matter_ right now.

What matters right now are the two people in front of her who put what was _hers_ in danger.

Nyma looks up at her, a fire in her battle-hardened eyes. “Can we just stop with this charade?” Lance notices the glassiness of her eyes and something in her reels back as if struck.

“What?”

“If you’re going to kill us get it over with. We crossed you, stop dragging it out.”

Lance stares at her, hard eyes burning and the fire still simmering in her gut, but this time, Nyma doesn’t look away.

“Betraying me isn’t enough, huh? You have to insult me too, now do you?” Lance asks coldly. Nyma opens her mouth, angry and frustrated but Lance talks over her, silencing her with her next words. “You remind me of my family, you know? I suppose a lot of things do these days, honestly. But you two? You two, I actually liked.”

Nyma and Rolo both look like they don’t understand what’s happening. That the conversation has taken a turn they hadn’t expected. She always did like to keep people guessing.

“I told you that, didn’t I? I could’ve _protected_ you. I _wanted_ to protect you and _you…_ you never gave me the chance.” Lance shakes her head, laughing high pitched and sad. “Hunk told me you were dangerous, but I _hoped_ anyway. I wanted and it made me stupid and easy to manipulate and I _hate_ that.”

She takes a deep breath, before slowly letting it back out.

“But you’re desperate. You’re scared, clawing animals that are backed into a corner. And we’re supposed to be heroes.” Lance stands tall, back straight and proud. “Heroes don’t kill desperate, clawing things.”

The two stare up at her in surprise, mouths parted in confusion and something unnamable.

Pidge, who she guesses finally had enough of standing back, stomps up to Lance and grabs her arm, glaring at Rolo and Nyma for all she’s worth. “Come on, Lance. Let’s just go. We have more important things to do than comfort backstabbing assholes.”

Nyma tenses at the words and Rolo looks crazed, a harsh change from his laid-back demeanor when they first met.

“Wait! You can’t just leave us here.”

Pidge sneers at them. “Of course we can. Lance, come on!” She gives another tug that has Lance taking a step back.

“We’ll be killed!” he shouts, and doesn’t that give them all pause.

Shiro turns back to look at him. “What do you mean?”

Rolo looks like he’s struggling with himself but as he looks down at Nyma who’s still wearing her broken warrior expression, he seems to relax. Or maybe he’s just got a better hold on his persona again.

“We called Galra Command and said we had the Blue Lion. If they find us without it, they’ll think we lied, and we’ll be killed.” His voice doesn’t shake but Lance has a sneaking suspicion that if his hands weren’t so tightly grasped in Nyma’s, they would be.

The fear in his eyes is a visceral thing and Lance is harshly reminded that most people out here haven’t fought the galra and come out on top multiple times. That they don’t view them as an almost abstract thing to be dealt with but as a force of nature.

Lance looks to Shiro and finds confliction there. “We don’t kill people,” she whispers and hates herself for it.

Pidge looks up at her indignant. “We wouldn’t be killing them,” she says all fire and bravado and righteous anger.

“We’d be leaving them to _die,_ Pidge. It’d be just as bad.”

“You weren’t afraid of being killed a second ago,” Keith points out, turned to face Nyma. It’s not cruel, the way he says it. More like he’s stating a fact.

Lance isn’t sure if that’s better or not.

Nyma scoffs at him. “To be killed at the hands of Voltron will be a _mercy_. The galra will make it _sport._ A spectacle for its Empire and a message for its enemies as they slowly let the life _bleed_ out of us.” Nyma lets out a sound that is a laugh only in name. The derision and fear and a thousand other emotions are poured into the single, shattering sound. “The galra will not make our deaths quick.”

And with that, there really wasn’t any other choice they could go with.

Or, at least, none that Lance would let them choose.

Lance may not be a warrior, but she’s damn well going to protect as many people as she can.

Even bloodied hunters who are all broken edges and sharpened teeth with no _loyalty_.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well! I hope you guys enjoyed the chapter! It was very Lance centric but the next few will have a lot of switching POVs so don't worry. A lot of flashbacks, some mentions of Lance's family, and a few secrets that the groundwork is being lain for. Wonder if you can guess what it is?


	10. You've Activated My Trap Card!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Warning: Galra do not like following directions and will do the exact opposite of what you want them too

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> What up guys? Sorry, this one took awhile. I was finishing up school and then traveling to my Dad's. Busy, busy, busy! Anyway, summer's here so I'll have more time for my pet projects. Yay!

“We’re nearing the Balmera,” Allura announces from her place on the dais.

She’s steering the ship and dressed in her own battle armour that was done up in deep crimson and sugary pinks. It clung to her like a leotard, but Lance could see the subtle padding at the shoulders and torso. It was probably as strong as the Paladins’ suits if not more so. The designs running up and down her arms and sides also gave the appearance of metal armour, something Lance knew the Princess was not wearing but looked positively _ravishing_ in.

She’d told her as much which only earned her a loud groan from her teammates and an eye-roll from the Princess in question.

Coran, at least, smiled at her for trying so she knows at least one person on this fucking ship has her back.

Currently, they were all scattered around the Bridge in various states of uniform waiting for the Princess to give them the run down. Well, everyone except Rolo Nyma and Beezer.

The bounty hunters and their bot were somewhere off in the Castle with CORINN keeping an eye on them to make sure they didn’t get up to anything they weren’t supposed to. No one really trusted them--least of all Shiro and Allura--and none of them exactly wanted them in the Bridge so it was decided that the babysitting was best left to the all-knowing AI that watched over the Castle.

Apparently, the group had yet to leave the servant quarters Allura had reluctantly given them. (She had wanted to throw them in the dungeons and be done with it but Shiro and Lance talked her out of it.)

“Liberating an entire planet from Zarkon’s grasp…” Allura says, solemn, “it won’t be easy.”

Lance rolls her eyes at her somber tone. Like they didn’t already have enough doom and gloom lately, she has to make it worse by bringing down morale? Does Lance have to do everything around here?

“Well, _duh,”_ Lance exaggerates, drawing the attention of the others. Hunk sends her a sharp look because he knows she’s up to shenanigans and his default setting is disapproval in those situations. “If it was easy, we wouldn’t _be_ here.”

“Great pep talk, Lance,” Pidge monotones.

She rolls her eyes at the tiny scientist. “What I’m _saying_ , is that if we’re _here_ \--by the grace of a Goddess no less, if Allura’s to be believed-”

“Which I _am,”_ Allura interjects and Lance ignores for the time being.

“ _If we’re here,”_ she continues pointedly, “then we’re here for a reason. That reason is- _-most probably_ \--fighting the Galra and we wouldn’t be here if we were just meant to fail. That’d be pointless. So, _yeah,_ it’ll be hard, but we’ll win in the end. There’s no other logical conclusion,” she finishes confidently, stuffing her hands in her pockets.

For a long moment, everyone just stares at her and it reminds her of how they looked when she stepped up to fight, way back when they first landed on Arus. Like they expected her to open her mouth and for something stupid to come out and instead were blindsided by a Lance they didn’t know. A Lance who was competent and knew what she was doing.

It’s a sour kind of attention that she hates but is intimately familiar with.

“Wow. That was actually… kind of inspiring,” Pidge blinks confusedly, the other’s not much better. “I don’t-”

“So!” Lance claps her hands together with a too wide grin, cutting off whatever it was Pidge was going to say. “How are we going to do this? Go in there and just-- _pow, pow, pow!”_ Lance bounces around pretending to shoot invisible enemies before finishing with a dramatic pose. “--and then free the prisoners?”

She looks up at the others, arms still outstretched. The other’s roll their eyes, relaxing once more now that Lance has gone back to ‘normal, goofball Lance who can’t possibly say something _smart’_ and they don’t have to worry about it anymore.

Hunk tries catching her eye, but she studiously ignores him. He knows how she feels about these types of things.

There’s a reason he’s the only friend she had outside of her family.

“What-” Keith starts, hands raised at his side is a ‘why’ gesture. _“What_ was that noise?”

Lance smirks, _“Laser guns.”_

To her left, Hunk is shaking his head. She thinks he’s going to push the issue with her but instead he surprises her. Something that has become less common over the course of their friendship, at least from her end.

“No, no, it sounds more like--” She thinks he mimes turning himself into a cannon and then does something with his mouth that Lance doesn’t know how to describe except it certainly is _not_ laser guns.

After he pantomimes what she _thinks_ is supposed to be an explosion Lance gives him a flat stare that hides none of the affection she holds for him. Leave it to Hunk to use crappy sound effects as a way to show her he cares.

“You sound like a dying firework,” is what she says.

 _“I love you so much, you idiot,”_ is what she means.

Hunk gasps, utterly offended with his hand on his chest. “Hey!”

 But Lance knows he actually said, _“I know.”_

“Technically,” Pidge pipes up, straightening her glasses and drawing her hands close to her body in an imitation of- _-incorrectly-_ -holding a small handgun. “It’s more of a ‘ _ba-choo, ba-choo’.”_

“Oh my god, you were even worse!” Lance complains.

“Okay! Enough with the bad sound effects…” Shiro interrupts looking annoyed. He makes sure to give them each a stern look. “Besides, it's more like-- _blam, blam, blam!"_

He drops to his knee, taking a sturdy shooting stance that is _so much_ better than Pidge’s. She suddenly gets the urge to challenge him to a shooting contest.

The rest of them rise up to vehemently deny him and Lance is ready to tell him how wrong he is when Allura loses her patience and whistles. Loudly.

Lance is learning very quickly to regret teaching her how to do that. Altean lungs were _powerful_ and she’s pretty sure she has tinnitus now.

“Paladins!” all five of them turn to look at Allura, sheepish from being scolded and blinking to refocus after the screech from hell. _“Focus,_ please.”

Hunk rubs his arm, self-consciously. “Right. Sorry, Princess.” He straightens up, falling into Exposition Hunk as Lance likes to call him. “We can’t just shoot at the Galra anyway. The Balmera’s a living thing, and from what Keone’s been telling me, she’s not in good shape. Shooting could damage her even more.”

“Number One is right!” Coran pipes up, joining the conversation, “The Galra have been stealing Crystals from the Balmera without giving anything back to the Great Creature.” His nose wrinkles, mustache twitching like he smelled something foul. “It’s _barbaric_.”

“And the way they treat the Balmerans…” Hunk’s eyes go far away and Lance places her hand on his arm. “Shay and their people were enslaved and- and we can’t just _ignore_ that. We’re the only ones that can _do_ anything.”

 _“‘With great power, comes great responsibility’,”_ Lance quotes dramatically.

Pidge elbows her for the reference, but she can shove it because Spiderman is great and always relevant.

Also, it made Hunk smile and get rid of that glassy look in his eyes, at least for a bit.

“So we can’t go in there guns blazing,” Shiro pauses, mulling over his thoughts. “If we can’t fire at the planet and the Galra stationed on and in it, we could instead draw them out of the Balmera. Get them to fight us above the surface where we have the advantage.”

“Okay, that checks out,” Pidge tells him. “But how are we going to draw them out? I don’t think they’ll fall for us giving up our Lions a _second_ time.”

“Oh! I know!” Hunk exclaims enthusiastically waving his arm above his head and jostling Lance who takes a step away from his flailing. “Pick me!”

She shakes her head in exasperated fondness for her weirdo of a best friend while the others look at him like they’re concerned for his mental health.

“Uh… Yes, Hunk?”

“If we attack all the important mining equipment on the surface, the Galra troops will have to come out to defend it, right? Then we beat them up, head down to the tunnels, and Voltron saves the day!”

Shiro looks at Hunk impressed, and Lance’s chest fills with pride for him. “Solid plan, Hunk.”

“How will we know how many galra are left in the tunnels, though?” Pidge pipes up. “If we go into the planet too early, we’ll be overrun.”

The room is silent, no one having an answer to the question until Allura snaps her fingers and grabs everyone’s attention. “We can track the Galra and the Balmerans using Biothermal Life Indicator Point Technology.”

The princess waves her hand and a hologram appears before all of them. It looks like an egg-shaped pod the size of her head with seams running across its surface that Lance assumes to mean it can pop open or change shape.

“What? Like BLIP tech? How does it work? Can you read heat signatures or is it something else? How can you tell when-”

Allura stares at Pidge flatly.

“Uh… later, right? I’ll just ask later.”

Allura continues as if Pidge hadn’t spoken. “Pidge will fly around the planet and drop the sensors down the mine shafts at these points.” She raises her hand and a hologram of the Balmera appears before them, red dots on its surface for Pidge’s targeted drop points.

Pidge nods, understanding that with her cloaking ability, she has the best chance of success without detection.

“For those of you on the surface!” Coran shouts, popping up behind Lance and making her jump. She’d been so focused on the hologram and Allura she hadn’t noticed him sneaking up behind her. “ _That,”_ he points to a darker spot on the Balmera hologram, “is their main power generator. Taking that down will severely weaken their defenses. Then you can skedaddle on in and _poof!_ Victory!”

Lance gives him a look while Keith says, “I doubt it will be that easy.”

 “It won’t be.” Allura looks exasperated at her fellow Altean. “Which is why Coran and I will be hidden in the cloud cover providing as much tactical support and Intelligence as we can. Coran will be guiding you through the Balmeran tunnels and I will be heading any defensive measures.”

“Oh, man! You guys will be like our Guy in the Chair!” Lance says excitedly.

Pidge elbows her harder for that one and Lance yelps that time. Everyone else pretends they don’t notice, the traitors.

“Be aware though, that the Galra seem to have affected the main system somehow. CORINN is isolating the data as we speak and deleting any suspicious code but that means she can’t help with defensive maneuvers or we risk overloading the whole system. I can only run so many defenses alone which means you won’t have the Castle at full capacity behind you. So, _be cautious.”_

“Of course, Princess,” Shiro says nodding his head seriously as he still stands at parade rest, the perfect soldier he is. “I’ll take out the power generator. Keith, Lance, and Hunk, you three will handle the mining rigs. Take out as many as you can without damaging the Balmera or yourselves.”

The three of them chorus out their affirmations and Lance is excited that she finally just gets to wreak havoc on something with Azura. Well, something that won’t fight back, that is.

“It will be about another varga before we reach the Balmeran atmosphere,” Allura informs them, clicking away at her hologram and pulling up charts and screens for things Lance couldn’t even begin to understand. “I suggest you all prepare yourselves for the mission in the meantime.”

Lance nods, moving to leave the Bridge and spend some time with Azura before they reach the planet when Hunk bounds up to her side, walking beside her. Lance looks at him out of the corner of her eye. It wasn’t what she had been planning on doing but hanging out with Hunk was always a good option.

“Hey, Honeybee,” she chirps happily, wrapping her arm around his waist and tucking her hand into his back pocket when he automatically wraps his arm around her shoulders.

He doesn’t return the greeting or even seem to notice she said something. Lance looks up at him worriedly.

“Baby doll?” she waves a hand in front of his face to catch his attention, he startles and the frown hovering at the corner of her lips more firmly sets itself on her face. “Are you okay?”

“What? Oh, uh, yeah. Just… lost in thought I guess.”

“Something I should know about?”

His eyes flick to her face, at the worry there and he bites his lip. His fingers tap at her shoulder. It’s not Morse so she’s pretty sure its binary code. He knows she’s yet to decipher it, but she also thinks he’s not aware he’s tapping it out to her right now which means he _really_ out of it.

“It’s just… Coran said something on the Balmera about the Paladins wielding magic.”

Lance blinks up at him.

“Like… the Old Paladins?”

Magic wasn’t that hard for Lance to believe in when a few weeks ago she had her soul tied to a sentient robot Lion that also ties her soul to other people. It was pretty obvious there was _some_ sort of magic in that whole deal.

It made sense that there were past Paladins that could wield magic. Maybe it’s more common in space than on earth? She should ask Coran about that.

Hunk shakes his head, gnawing at his lip.

“No. Well, I mean _yes_ , them too, but I think he meant us. That’d _we’d_ get magic.”

“Why do you say that?”

“Because I think I may have already used some.”

Lance’s heart stops before kicking into double time. She throws herself in front of Hunk, stopping him in his tracks. “Are you serious?” she demands, eyes wide.

“As a heart attack,” he jokes weakly.

A wide grin breaks across her face. “Dude! That is so cool!” she grabs his hands, shaking them excitedly in her own. Why isn’t Hunk more excited about this? They could be _magic._ Oh man, this is her childhood dreams come _true!_ “What did you do? Did you cast a spell? Did sparks fly out of your hands? Did you-”

Hunk pulls his hands from his own to press down on her shoulders, halting her bouncing motions. “You are way less freaked out by this than I was.”

“Freaked out?” Lance exclaims. “How can you not be _pumped?_ Bro! We’re living a real-life fantasy novel _in space._ I would’ve killed to be here as a kid!”

“But what about… magic actually being… _real?”_

Lance stares up at him, sees the nerves on his face and realizes this must be very jarring for him and his scientific ‘everything can be explained’ brain. Lance has always been the more open-minded of the two.

“Baby doll, my heartbeat pounds in your chest. You can _feel_ my emotions. We’re bound on a level so intrinsic to our cores that we’ll _never_ untangle.” She softens, pressing her hand to his chest. “Only one of those has nothing to do with magic.”

Hunk opens his mouth than closes it. He stares down at where Lance can feel two heartbeats pounding away in time with the ones in her chest.

When he looks back up at her he seems almost sheepish.

Lance grins at him. “Forgot that did you?”

“A little…” he admits. “It’s just- it feels natural. The bonds and stuff. I didn’t even think about it.”

“Well, I can’t blame you. I hadn’t either until you confirmed magic existed. Though, I _did_ have a sneaking suspicion when a robotic Lion started talking in my head.”

That gets Hunk to laugh along with her, his posture relaxing. Lance grins wider.

“Now, tell me more about this _magic_ you used.”

“Man, that is not a sentence I thought I would hear said to me in total seriousness before.”

***

The five of them are flying back down through the atmosphere of the Balmera and Lance is talking. Of course, she’s talking, there’s little else she knows how to do. Words spill from her mouth in an attempt to lighten the mood and she thinks it works for a little bit.

“Do you think they’ll throw a parade after we save them? Oh! Or maybe a feast! It’d be nice to have a good feast, I’m getting sick of food goo. No offense to your cooking, Ducky. I know you’re trying your best.”

Hunk only hums at her absently, still lost in thought. Lance doesn’t hold it against him. While she’s excited about the magic that she may or may not possess, Hunk is probably overthinking it and making himself nervous for no reason. That along with the obvious worry he has for the Balmerans?

She’s surprised he hasn’t combusted yet.

Though, she really does wish he would learn to leave well enough alone. What will be, will be. Worrying about magic won’t fix anything.

But she supposes that’s just not how her baby boy copes with new things. He looks at them from every angle and wants to understand every facet before he’s content to let it be.

She’s told him many times ‘ _curiosity killed the cat, you know.’_

She remembers how he would always grin, wide and a shade too sharp for his face--she really was such a horrible influence on him--and snipe right back with, _‘but then satisfaction brought it back.’_

 _“It’s not about the_ glory _, Lance,”_ Keith snaps across the comms, annoyed and understanding nothing.

She rolls her eyes even though he can’t see them. “I’m just _saying,_ if they wanted to show a little appreciation, I wouldn’t be averse to it. It’s nice to be thanked, Mullet.”

 _“But that’s not the reason we’re_ here.”

“Oh, get your panties out of that twist you’ve got them in, Bubbles, I’m well aware how _saving_ people works. I _was_ the one to join our little, rag-tag army first, you know.”

 _“Probably just so you could brag about how you saved the universe,”_ Keith snarks and Lance bites her tongue before she can spit venom at him.

This _boy_ who knows nothing about her--who never even bothered to _try_ after she gave him the chance--has the gall to believe he understands how she thinks or acts at all?

Lance’s blood boils and the tentative thread binding them together shudders painfully in her chest, burning at the walls of the cavern it carved out behind her sternum like a warning. Lance wishes she could rip it from her still beating heart and be done with it. Done with _him._

“You better watch yourself, Red,” Lance says as lightly as she can with Azura’s low growl at the back of her throat. “A girl might think you don’t like her with an attitude like that.”

 _“That’s enough you two,”_ Shiro mediates before Keith can snap back at her. _“We have more important things to focus on.”_

Lance doesn’t so much snap to attention at his words as she slinks towards it obediently, shoving her annoyance for Keith and his assumptions to the back of her mind as she settles into her battle mode.

Shiro’s right. They have work to do.

***

Taking out the mining rigs and generators is even easier than Keith had expected. With Red, flying is easy and loose and _exhilarating_. She knows every turn he’s going to make before he makes them and spins with a certain flare that remind him of dancing flames.

Unrestrained and _beautiful_.

Flying with her is up there with meeting Shiro and Adam. With the precious memories of him and his dad sitting on the roof and looking up at the stars. With the feeling of riding a hoverbike for the first time, going as fast as the wind would take him.

It feels like the first time in forever where someone has understood him so easily and on such a personal level. It should terrify him, letting someone get so close, letting someone know him so intimately as to be _inside his head._

But… it isn’t. In that same place that houses his instincts and split-second reactions and the very core of all that he is, something tells him that there is nothing in this universe that would make Red hurt him. Nothing that Red wouldn’t protect him from, including herself.

So when she starts whispering of flames and molten heat and lava that are _his_ to control, his to hold in his hands and use to protect and destroy and _flourish_ … he doesn’t even hesitate.

He reaches into the bond, grabs onto the thread that links them, the flaming rod that holds them together and he _pulls._ Red opens her mouth and _roars_ at the tower that had been doing its level best to shoot them out of the sky. A blindingly bright light scores across his vision and in the next moment, the tower is little more than molten slag.

Red chirps in triumph, dancing and hopping in the back of his mind like a kitten and Keith can’t help the wide grin that overtakes his face as he looks at what they accomplished, _together._

“We’ve got firepower!” he crows into the comms, high of the thrumming warmth of Red’s joy and his own excitement for flying again and being _useful._ “Top _that_ , Lance!”

He’s shifting to move to the next tower, the next target, when the power generator starts to fall.

It tilts, slowly at first, but quickly gains speed. Falling towards the ground fast and promising immense devastation if it hits the surface.

It’s heavy and hot. What it doesn’t break, it would _burn._

Keith hisses through his teeth as he watches it slice through the air.

 _“Don’t let it fall!”_ Hunk shouts, coming from nowhere and trying to hold up the tilting tower. Him and his Lion struggle against gravity, the thrusters sputtering and flaring outwards in an attempt to hold their ground. Keith darts in to help with the weight the second he gets his bearings.

In the next moment, Azura is twirling around them, her tail flicking around her like a snake as she takes in the tower with keen eyes. Then, she opens her mouth and _roars,_ much like Red had. But instead of fire and heat, ice and snow and cold come rushing towards Keith and Hunk.

When he looks up, he finds the broken thing is encased in a skin of glittering blue ice, twinkling brightly in the sun.

Through the comms, he can hear Lance’s delighted laughter _. “Always cleaning up your messes it seems, Mullet. Try to top_ that. _Functional_ and _pretty,”_ she taunts before flouncing away with Hunk at her heels as they continue their path of destruction, sparkling ice sculptures pointedly left behind in their wake like a personal challenge.

Keith swallows the growl rising up in his throat back down.

His control of that impulse is already frayed when it comes to the Blue Paladin. He doesn’t need to encourage himself even more.

Red flicks her tail irritably before bounding off after them, intent on overtaking them with her superior speed and Keith pretends that the emotions swirling in his chest aren’t half-amusement, half-annoyance.

He doesn’t have the want or drive to untangle and understand that mess of confusion anyway.

***

Lance is gleefully tearing apart Galra mining rigs and the odd drone ship when Pidge finally pops back up on the comms _. “All sensors delivered,”_ she announces, flying back to where the rest of them are on the other side of the planet.

“Good job, Sprocket!” she cheers, dancing and twirling around lasers while Hunk slips around the back to ram through it. Her encouragement is enthusiastically echoed by the rest of the team and Lance smiles as she flings her tail knives at the laser’s head.

 _“Power Generator destroyed,”_ Shiro calls out a second later and Lance hollers her excitement.

She watches as the tower in front of her shorts out, lighting crawling across the metal like skittering insects. She makes sure it’s in no danger of falling over before turning around to jump into the fight. Only, when she spins around, she finds nothing.

The surface is quiet.

The hairs on the back of her neck stand on end and Azura’s at attention in the back of her mind. The pair sweep the horizon line for enemies or a sign of, well, _anything._

They find nothing but Digit’s approaching form.

“Uh, guys?” Lance calls out, voice nervous and confused. “Where are all the galra?”

Hunk slows to a stop, landing next to her on the tower to do his own sweep of the area. _“That’s a good question,”_ he says slowly. _“I remember there being a lot down in the tunnels. We couldn’t have made our way through all of them_ already.”

In her ear, Coran’s voice rises over the comms. He sounds worried and Lance’s shoulders tense. _“Paladins, we might have a problem.”_

“What else is new?” Lance mutters under her breath.

 _“What is it?”_ Shiro’s commands over Lance’s mutterings.

_“The Galra towers and generators have sustained substantial damage but the biothermal scans indicate that instead of moving towards the surface, the Galra are all moving inwards.”_

_“What?”_ Hunk asks, slightly panicked. _“No, no, that’s not right. That’s not the plan!”_

“No plan survives contact with the enemy, sugar crunch,” Lance tells him, voice gentle but with a hint of frustration. What are they supposed to do now?

 _“They’re trying to draw us below the surface,”_ Shiro says, sounding like he’s talking out loud more than anything _. “It’s an ambush.”_

 _“We can’t just go down there,”_ Pidge insists. _“There’s too many galra still in those tunnels!”_

 _“Well, we can’t just stay up here either!”_ Hunk argues.

“We need to know what they’re thinking,” Lance insists. “They can’t believe we’re stupid enough to just run after them, right? Maybe they called back up?”

Shiro hums, _“Maybe. Coran, are there any radio towers or communication bases?”_

Radio towers. Of course! If they can hack a radio tower, they can hear what the galra are saying to each other. Assuming they aren’t speaking in code.

_“Yup-a-roo! I’m sending the coordinates to your HUDs.”_

There’s a chime and then a string of numbers and letters appear under a map on one of Azura’s holo-screens. A second after, another one joins the first and Allura pipes up, voice commanding in a way that you knew she was expecting to be followed. _“There’s also a cluster of ships in a hangar near the surface. Someone should take them out before they get the chance to launch.”_

_“Of course, Princess. Pidge, you go check out that radio tower. Take Hunk with you. Keith and Lance, I want both of you below the surface and dealing with that hangar. Take it out as quickly as possible.”_

“Aye, aye, Captain,” Lance chirps, her affirmations echoed by the others.

She’s not happy with being paired with Keith, but she’ll play civil for now.  Shiro knows how Keith and her are when they’re together, so he must have a reason for pairing them up. He knows what he’s doing, and she trusts him enough to not question his judgment.

 _“What about you?”_ Keith asks sounding almost worried.

_“I’m going to cause some noise on the surface. Try and keep their eyes off you four. Good luck, you guys. Stay safe.”_

_“You, too.”_

***

Allura’s father hadn’t been much of a War General despite his place as the Red Paladin. Instead of the drums of war pounding in his blood and sending him to the frontlines, there was a quieter, more intense song humming through his veins.

All Red Paladins are chosen to protect the Pride, but not all of them do it with a weapon.

Her father chose to do it with knowledge.

He was a scientist at heart, ill-suited for battles and bloodshed. _Too soft,_ as the council members would say.

But her father wasn’t _soft._ He was a smart man, knowledgeable in a great many fields and soft men do not last long with great knowledge. Soft men are crushed under the weight of what they know and her father had always stood tall.

But, his lack of battle experience was a weakness their enemies could exploit. It was one of many reasons why her mother was such a highly recommended candidate for Queen.

Her mother, while not of High Noble blood, was still a prominent member of the Court and praised as the best General of her time. A true warrior of heart and mind in a way her father could never be.

All Allura knows about battle a strategy comes from her. She remembers the war games her mother taught her and the long days spent in the training room learning to fight. The days spent in the war room learning how to run an army and build a kingdom.

It was something she always knew she would have to do as Queen, but it seems so much harder without her mother by her side. She can’t help but wish her mother was there. Helping her to choose the correct path, the right action. To whisper in her ear and guide her hand.

Allura watches her soldiers--only five of them, so small and so underprepared and she was never taught what to do with only _five_ , Mother, _help her--_ march to battle and she’s afraid, for the first time in her life, that there might be too much of her father in her. That she’ll have no knack for battle and she’s doomed everyone around her to follow a Commander who flounders in a sea of her own inadequacy.

She can’t lose any more of her people.

Especially not to her own follies.

So, she watches with sharp eyes as the Paladins move out, listening to their chatter over the comms. She takes note of every movement the Galra make. She keeps track of every piece on the board, carefully planning out the battle and every move in her mind and she _hopes_ it will be enough.

***

The ride down to the hangar is silent. An unspoken truce between them that lasts right up until the point where Keith tells her there’s only ‘a few’ sentries guarding the hangar which is apparently code for ‘I’m about to run in there halfcocked because I’m arrogant as all _hell.’_

Lance’s eyes widen when she realizes what he’s about to do and grabs the back of his collar, tugging him backward before he can blow their cover.

“Whoa, whoa, _whoa!”_ she hisses between her teeth. _“¡Detente, idiota!_ What the hell do you think you’re _doing?”_

Keith turns to glare at her, mouth opening to no doubt whine about _something_ she said but she barrels on over him because they _don’t have time for this._

“Did you just forget that the Balmera is a sensitive creature who’s, like, _seconds_ away from dying and that starting a firefight in the equivalent of its stomach is what us Latinos call ‘ _no bueno’?”_

Keith’s mouth snaps shut as he looks up at the ceiling almost as if he’s expecting the Balmera itself to scold him. “Oh… Right.”

Lance resists the urge to facepalm. “Yeah, so let’s not go blowing things up like a _psycho.”_

“Oh, you got a better idea?” he snaps but keeps his voice down, thankfully.

Lance takes a second to look out over the hangar, scanning for security and where the sentries are before turning back to Keith.

“Yes, actually,” she gloats before hunkering down into business mode, pointing up at the ceiling. “You see those bay doors? If we can get to the control room--” she swings her hand down toward said control room, “--we could shut them, trapping the ships in without injuries or danger. Well, no more danger than standing in the middle of enemy territory already is.”

“That’s--” Keith stops, mouth clicking shut as he actually thinks about what she said. “Actually a good idea,” he admits grudgingly.

Lance preens causing Keith to huff and start off forward toward the control room. Lance just trots along behind him, a wide grin on her face and the taste of victory on her tongue.

Being right is amazing, as always.

***

Breaking into the radio tower, Hunk thinks, is _way_ too easy. But when he voices his fears to Pidge, she just calls him paranoid.

When she gets the communications synched though and they find out that all the Balmerans are being held hostage underground, well, Hunk doesn’t feel very paranoid anymore.

In fact, he feels very validated in his feelings and makes sure he tells Pidge, ‘I told you so’.

She’s not very enthusiastic about it if the way she punches him in the arm is anything to go by.

***

Good things Lance has learned today: dropping from the ceiling like in an action movie is _exactly_ as fun as she always believed it would be.

Bad things Lance has learned today: Having the thing you’re standing on suddenly start to fall through the air and then crash into a person beneath you is going to send you sprawling across the floor in an ungraceful heap.

She wouldn’t have even been mad because again, awesome action hero, but then Keith had to start laughing at her and that just ruined the experience. 7/10 stars.

She makes sure to give Keith a glare for laughing and then a second one for when he fluidly drops to the floor right beside her.

Like, she’s pretty sure he’s either deliberately showing off or part cat. She wouldn’t even be surprised if he just sprouted ears and a tail at this point. It would explain a lot of things, at least.

“Keep an eye out for those guards,” Lance instructs, only half expecting him to do as she says. “I'll see if I can find a way to shut the hangar doors.”

Surprisingly, Keith moves to the window to do what she says. Lance decides not to look a gift horse in the mouth and doesn’t comment on his sudden obedience. It’s a bad idea to discourage good behavior.

She turns back to the console to discover she can’t read anything.

Lance spends an entire, frustrating, minute pressing random buttons before giving up with a groan. “Okay, so I have no idea what I’m doing over here,” she finally admits. “It’s just a bunch of Galra gibberish!”

She makes a mental note to ask Pidge, Coran, and Hunk if they can make universal translators for written words. That is if Pidge hasn’t already started working on it. She remembers her being very upset after they found the Red Lion for one reason or another that involved, ‘stupid fucking galra’ and their ‘stupid fucking alphabet.’

Keith sends her a look over his shoulder before slowly walking back over to her, keeping low to avoid being seen through the large windows. “Let me see,” he says, gently pushing her out of the way for a better look.

Lance lets him push her far enough that he can see the panel but refuses to move farther than his right shoulder, wanting to see what he does to the controls. Besides giving her a weird look, he doesn’t say anything about her stubborn proximity to him.

He spends a long moment just looking over the buttons, not making any move to do anything with them. He waits so long Lance is thinking about making a comment about being short on time and maybe _picking up the pace?_

His hand reaches out towards the large pad in the middle of the panel a second before Lance was going to open her mouth.

There’s a moment where nothing happens and then it turns a darker purple and makes a little dinging noise that causes both of them to jump. Their heads whip towards the ceiling when the sound of the bay doors closing reaches them, the pair staring up with equal parts surprise and confusion.

“Okay, how’d you _do_ that?” she asks incredulously.

Keith blinks, staring down at his palm like he’d never seen it before. “I just… put my hand on the handprint.”

Maybe there was a glitch in the system? Or an accident? Or… something?

Lance gives him a look before shaking her head. “Whatever, Boy Wonder. Let’s just get out of here before the bots get a clue.”

Keith nods and moves to follow her out distractedly. As they pass the door, he pulls out his Bayard and slashes through the metal of the handprint lock like butter. Lance doesn’t even want to know if that’s because his sword is wicked sharp or if he’s just _that_ strong. Instead of dwelling on that, she taps the side of her helmet and radios the others.

“The hangar’s been taken care of, Shiro. What are our next orders?”

 _“About that,”_ Hunk’s voice pipes up before Shiro’s can. Lance slows down, her gut twisted in worry. Her sugar plum doesn’t sound happy at _all_. _“Pidge hacked the communications tower and we have a problem. We found out why the galra are drawing in on the planet.”_

“Well don’t leave us hanging, baby boy,” Lance says apprehensively. The last time Hunk sounded that righteously angry, she had gotten harassed at the mall.

There’s a harsh sigh over the comms and Lance’s lips purse. _“They’re gathering all the Balmerans to use as hostages. They’re planning to draw us into the ambush by putting innocent lives in danger.”_

It takes a second for that to sink in and when it does, Lance feels anger bubble in her chest. Swears spill from her mouth from any language she can think of and she has to stop herself from… she doesn’t know. Hunting down all the galra scum on this planet and wringing out their necks?

Her only solace is that Keith doesn’t seem to be doing much better at withholding his anger. But then, she hadn’t expected him to.

Sparing him a glance, she’s pretty sure he’s _vibrating_ in place to keep from moving. It’s more self-control than she expected him to have. She kind of wants to give him a treat for positive reinforcement.

 _“Let’s not panic,”_ Shiro says calmly, trying to regain order. _“We all need to keep our heads. Coran, can you confirm?”_

A second later, a tired sounding Coran says, _“I’m afraid Number One is correct, my boy. I’m noticing quite a few factions of Balmerans with a galra sentries moving towards the center where there appears to be a large group of prisoners.”_

 _“Okay,”_ Shiro says through a loud gust of air. _“Everyone, head down to the center. We’re going to need everyone for this. Move carefully and quietly._ Stay hidden. _We need every advantage we can get and assuming the galra can’t track us? That means staying out of sight._ ”

Lance shares a look with Keith before she lets the sharp grin pull at the corners of her mouth. The pair of them are moving before Lance can even say, “Roger that, Chief.”

***

Anger burns through Hunk. He’d known the galra were horrible warmongers but it’s one thing to be told it and another entirely to _see_ it happen. Keone murmurs reassurances at the back of his mind that he mostly ignores.

He’s not in the mood for empty platitudes.

He wants to get to _Shay_ and their family. He wants to save these people and promises that everything will be okay isn’t going to do that no matter how good the intentions.

So, the second Shiro gives the order he’s racing off towards the nearest mineshaft, Pidge yelling after him.

He’s already jumped out of Keone and started off down a tunnel when Pidge finally catches up to him.

“Hey!” she hisses, lightly swatting his arm and doing an awkward half-jog in order to keep up with his long strides. “I know you’re upset but you need to think about this clearly!”

He doesn’t stop moving forward nor does he slow down.

Pidge makes a little huffing noise and speeds up so she can plant herself in his path, hands raised in front of her to keep him back. For a second, Hunk thinks about picking her up and just moving her out of the way but then he feels bad for thinking that and obediently stops.

 _“Hunk,”_ she stresses. “You need to calm down. Letting your emotions run wild isn’t going to help anybody. Use that big brain Lance is always praising you for and _think._ You rushing into danger isn’t going to solve anything.”

Hunk gives her a look. “Are you seriously talking to me about rushing into danger Miss Impulsive-is-my-middle-name?”

Pidge narrows her eyes. “First of all? I take offense to that nickname and all that it implies. Second? My hypocrisy is not the focus of the conversation. Also! Out of all of us? I’m pretty sure Keith is the worst at that so shut up.” Hunk raises his eyebrow, prompting her to get to the point. She shakes her head as if to recalibrate and gets back on topic. “What I’m _saying_ , is that if _I’m_ telling you to calm down, you probably should.”

He hates that he knows she’s right. And by the triumphant look on her face, she knows it.

“We need a plan.”

“The plan is we get to the center of the Balmera and free everyone.”

“ _That’s_ your plan?” she says incredulously.

Hunk makes a ‘so-so’ gesture. “Plans are Lance’s area of expertise.”

Pidge opens her mouth as if to ridicule that line of thought but before she can say anything or Hunk can scold her, she reruns through it and finds it actually checks out.

“Okay that makes sense, I guess. It’s still weird though.”

“I never said her plans were always good,” Hunk offers because Pidge looks like she’s struggling to combine this new information with her mental picture of Lance. And while he should probably take offense that anyone believes his best friend to be less than she actually is--especially after what happened in the Bridge earlier--but he also knows that Lance is one of the most complicated people on the planet in terms of personality and skills and can’t really blame them for not realizing after only knowing her a month.

For _his_ first year of knowing her, every new thing he learned threw him for a loop until he realized that she was just _like that_. A thousand different things rolled up in the messiest bow ever. An ever-expanding puzzle with pieces that changed colors and shape. She never stayed the same for long.

Never stayed _stagnant._

Hunk smiled.

It’s what made them friends in the first place. Hunk had always been too curious for his own good and the strange oddity of the girl who was full of quirks and contradictions was too good to pass up.

He came for the mystery and stayed for the girl herself, complexities and all.

Besides, Lance needed someone to ground her in reality or she’d get so swept up in her own head she’d drown. And Hunk? Well, he needed someone to push and shape him. To help him branch out and not be so still, someone so full of life as to make the world around him flourish into vivid technicolor.

They just _worked_ that way, you know?

_“If I may? There’s something I’d appreciate your assistance with, Noble Guardians.”_

Hunk jumps two feet in the air when the deep voice echoes around the cave walls. He whips around, trying to locate the origin of the words but only finds a confusing looking Pidge staring at him.

“Uh… you okay?” she asks, apprehension dancing along her spine in a tense line. “I know you’re jumpy, but this is a lot even for you.”

Hunk looks at her. “You didn’t hear that?”

“Hear what?”

_“Guardian, there is no reason to be frightened. I need only to speak with you.”_

“Who’s there?” he calls out quietly, ignoring Pidge’s growing worry and muttering of how ‘he’s finally lost it.’ “Where are you?”

The voice chuckles deeply as if what he said was amusing. _“I am all around you, child.”_

Hunk blinks once, twice.

“You’re the planet?”

 _“Wonderfully guessed, Guardian! She_ had _said you were a smart one.”_

“Who said?”

 _“Your dear Lion, of course. She’s a close friend of mine, which makes_ you _a close friend of mine.”_

Hunk rubs his temples. “Should I start getting used to planets talking to me? Because if so, my head is going to become far too crowded very quickly. I already have too many voices in it as it is.”

The Balmera-- _holy hell,_ how is this his _life--_ laughs again. _“No, dear Guardian, I don’t believe you’ll have to worry about that. There are few planets with the level of sentience needed to communicate with even someone as connected to the earthly realm as yourself.”_

Hunk hums non-committedly.

“Are you having a breakdown?” Pidge finally pipes up. “Because if you are, I will not be the one explaining to Lance how her best friend broke.”

Hunk sends her a disapproving look that only works a little bit. “I’m not broken.”

“Well, not-broken people don’t normally start talking to planets as if they can talk back.”

“What about the last month of our lives has been normal?”

“Point,” Pidge relents, “But still, explain.”

Hunk sighs. “So we have magic right?”

“We have _what_ now?”

“Magic. It’s through our connections to the Lions. I don’t know much about it but according to Coran, it gives me the ability to interact with the dirt in magical ways. It also, apparently, lets me speak with the planet we’re currently standing on.”

Pidge nods her head. “So, you’ve cracked. That’s good to know.”

“I’m not _crazy.”_

“That’s exactly what a crazy person _would_ say,” Pidge squints at him suspiciously.

Hunk sighs loudly. “I hate you.”

“Thanks.”

The Balmera makes a sound like clearing its throat which, how does it do that because it doesn’t _have a throat, what the- “If we could get back on task, please?”_

“Hmm?” Hunk asks before curling in on himself sheepishly. “Right, sorry.”

_“It’s quite alright, Guardian.”_

“What do you need?” Hunk asks because he has no self-control or preservation instincts. Whatever happened to ‘stranger danger’? He blames Lance.

The Balmera hums in approval. _“My children are being hunted. There are groups fleeing to hidden tunnels, but most are already captured. There are some still in route to my heart. I need you to rid them of their… pests.”_

“Oh, well. That was kind of the plan anyway, so sure. Can you tell us where the ones that are still moving are?”

_“Of course.”_

“Hey, what are they saying?” Pidge asks and Hunk translates what’s happening now. Pidge stares up at him tilting her head left and right as if weighing something in her head before nodding determinedly. “A couple of pit stops wouldn’t hurt.” a slow, devilish grin spreads across Pidge’s face. “Let’s go hunt us some rats.”

Before he can say anything about directions, Pidge is already running off down the--aggravatingly correct--tunnel. So much for not being impulsive.

Hunk shakes his head as he starts to jog off after her. Pidge and Lance were similar in far too many ways for his continued sanity.

***

Lance had figured, what with both of them being pissed off at the Galra and in no mood to deal with petty squabbles, that Keith and her’s unspoken agreement of not speaking to each other would hold unless absolutely necessary to break it.

Lance, in this case, ends up being wrong because Keith is developing the irritating habit of not doing or being what she expects him to be.

It’s right after she picks off a lone sentry that appeared to not have any back up near but was standing in the middle of the tunnel they were walking down. She pushed Keith behind a rock and brought out her Bayard before shooting the thing cleaning between where its eyes would be and where Coran said their main processing unit was.

After a few tense seconds where Lance waits to see if there were actually any other sentries around and she just didn’t see them, she stands up to keep moving forward.

“Where did you learn to shoot like that?” Keith asks, staring at the heap of metal across the tunnel in what might have been something resembling impressed.

“My Abuelita taught me.”

Keith tilts his head at her, silently asking why. Waiting for her to elaborate.

Surprisingly, she does. Or, well. She tells him some of it. She doesn’t tell him _when_ she learned to shoot, most people frowned upon having nine-year-olds wielding guns as easy as breathing. She also doesn’t tell him all of the _why,_ either.

Only Hunk really knows outside of her family. And she hadn’t exactly _meant_ to tell him, so…

“I’d always hear my cousins talking about them and I begged to learn as well. She taught me how to handle every gun she knew. My Papi taught me how to use a bow too but I prefer guns. They’re…” she looks down at the Bayard turned rifle in her hands. “comforting, I guess. Tia Maria tried teaching me how to throw knives, but I never really got the hang of it.”

Keith blinks at her.

“That’s a lot of weapons you know how to handle. I had kinda assumed the Garrison taught you to shoot.”

Lance snorts. As if the Garrison could teach her the precision she learned from years of handling any gun she could get her hands on. You can’t teach someone how to be desperate for a way to protect themselves. Can’t teach the near innate sense she has for any weapon that has a chamber.

Fighting runs in her _blood_. There’s no school that can teach _that_.

“What about you, Hotshot?” she asks, starting off down the tunnel again but keeping her voice low. “How’d you learn to swing around those fancy butter knives of yours?” She nods towards the Bayard still in his hand and the second knife strapped to his hip.

Keith stares down at them for a moment, a confused furrow to his brows and Lance thinks she might see him mouth the words ‘butter knives’ but then he shakes his head and stares ahead.

“…Lessons.”

Lance gives him a look that tells him how unimpressed she is by his nonanswer. Especially after she extended the first olive branch.

Keith jaw clenches almost like he’s struggling with something. “I thought it was cool. Sword fighting. Shiro signed me up for classes in seventh grade.”

She raises her eyebrows before she lets a slow grin slide across her face. “Wanted to be a cool anime protagonist, huh?”

Keith sputters denials and excuses for a few seconds and Lance has to put her hand over her mouth to cover her giggling. When he finally catches her laughing behind her hand, his face morphs back into his usual scowl.

“I knew you’d make fun of me,” he snaps.

Lance stops laughing. The familiarity of his statement jars her.

_Then you’re making fun of me._

“I’m not making fun of you,” she tells him seriously, stopping in the tunnel but keeping off to the side just in case. She pushes into his space to make sure he understands, halting his progress as well. “I’m laughing _with_ you. You know, joking about things. We all have cringy stuff we did as kids; you have to learn to laugh about it.”

“Why?”

“Why do we have to laugh at it?”

“No,” Keith shakes his head, frustrated. “Why are you… joking around with me? You hate me.”

Lance sniffs, starting back down the tunnel after a check around them. “I don’t _hate_ you.” At Keith’s skeptical look she rolls her eyes. “I don’t like you, that much is true. But… well, Hunk thinks I could learn. To like you, that is. He says I should at least _try._ ” she turns away from him, shrugging her shoulders. “And, well, I’d do anything to not disappoint him.”

It’s quiet for a little bit. Lance assumes Keith doesn’t know how to respond to that. She wouldn’t either, to be honest.

 But then, “It’s the same with Shiro.”

Lance spares a glance at him out of the corner of her eye.

When she doesn’t respond, he elaborates. “He thinks that…” his face scrunches up. “we just don’t _understand_ each other.”

Lance huffs a laugh, both at Shiro’s logic and Keith’s obvious disdain for it. “No offense to our Fearless Leader, but my problems with you stem a bit farther than _‘simple misunderstanding’.”_

Keith tilts his head at her, curious but with the barest hint of tension in his shoulders.

Oops. Maybe she shouldn’t be so cavalier with her dislike of the person standing right next to her.

“What _is_ your problem with me?” he asks and sounds like he’s trying very hard to not sound offended by her dislike of him. He’s not very successful, but points for trying she supposes.

She stares at him for a long moment, gaze flicking all across his face and analyzing every twitch. She stares at him so long that Keith starts getting aggressive, shifting from foot to foot and crossing his arms petulantly.

His mouth opens, no doubt with a scalding quip on his tongue, but before he can speak Lance answers him.

“My problem with you is that you don’t even remember why I would have a problem with you. My problem is that you never even took notice of the people you pushed and shoved aside in your pursuit of whatever-the-fuck it was you wanted.” Lance tries really hard to keep the biting edge out of her words, to rebury the anger she’s trying so hard to forget but it just _won’t._

“My problem is that you never cared and never tried and then you stole what I wanted and _threw it away_ just because you could.”

Her voice shakes, dripping with anger and disdain and other long-buried things she never wanted Keith to see because he doesn’t deserve the _satisfaction_ of seeing how he broke her without even _trying._

He never tries where it fucking _counts_ does he?

Just another thing for her to heap on the pile.

She watches as Keith’s face slowly shuts down. His scowl returning in the place of the almost easy openness he had had before and, in her chest, she _burns_.

Lance would almost feel bad, but he had _asked,_ and she wasn’t going to lie. If he didn’t want to know he should’ve kept his mouth to himself. Don’t go opening Pandora’s Box if you aren’t ready for the consequences.

“I see,” he says sharply, words clipped at the ends. “Let’s just get this over with then so you don’t have to spend more time than necessary in such _poor_ company.” Abruptly, he turns on his heel and stalks off down the hall without looking back at her.

Lance sighs roughly. She feels like she just messed up something important. Like she held something fragile and broken in her hands and instead of fixing it, she threw it against the nearest wall.

The bond in her chest burns painfully bright. It’s probably meant as a warning but all it does is make her angrier.

She had been _trying_ dammit but then her emotions got in the way and when Hunk finds out he’s going to be sad and probably upset and she just _can’t_ right now. There are more important things happening right now and she can deal with the scattered pieces of her personal problems with Mullet Boy _later_.

Closing her eyes to refocus, she moves to catch up with Keith.

***

The Balmera leads them down a few winding tunnels before giving Hunk the heads up about the approaching patrol. He relays the message to Pidge and the two wait for their chance to strike.

When the group rounds the corner and Hunk sees the Balmerans being dragged forward by the galra sentries, their wrists chained and expressions hopeless, his heart plummets.

 _They_ did this. By being here, they put all these people in danger. These families and children who have nothing to do with this are being dragged into danger and Hunk’s stomach _rolls._

Pidge reaches out for him, eyes determined, and he tries to match her spirit. With her touching him, it’s a bit easier to grab onto her thread and draw on her strength.

“Three sentries. You take the two in the back, I’ll take the one in the front?” she whispers to him as the group gets closer to their rock. Hunk pauses for a second, eyeing the sentries trailing behind the group before nodding uncertainly.

They wait for the group to get ever closer and Hunk stops breathing for a moment, scared that the sentries will notice his labored breathing and he’ll give them both away. Pidge holds up a hand, makes sure she has his attention, then slowly puts each finger down.

His anxiety skyrockets but he readies his Bayard anyway, teeth grit so hard he’s half convinced they’ll break.

When Pidge lowers her last finger the two of them _leap._

Hunk can’t keep track of Pidge, he’s busy with his own situation and everything is moving quickly but he can hear her battle cry as she launches herself at the galra sentry. Hunk slams himself into his first one, shoving it to the ground before pulling his Bayard and swinging it at the second one before it can raise its gun.

It catches the guard in the hip sends it flying into a wall but not before it can fire wildly.

The shot passes by Hunk harmlessly, but it startles him enough into backpedaling. His foot catches on something and in the next moment he’s falling backward, his head jolting against the rocky ground.

Screwing up his eyes against the pain, he doesn’t notice the thing he tripped on until it moves underneath him. Hunk yelps and slams his foot down on whatever was moving.

Opening his eyes, he sees the caved in face of the sentry beneath his yellow boot, all exposed circuitry and flying sparks.

He quickly pulls his foot away, thoroughly creeped out.

“The savior of the universe, everyone,” Pidge intones dully as she stares down at him, her hip cocked and the bodies of the other two sentries sparking behind her.

Hunk chuckles sheepishly and she rolls her eyes, extending her hand to help him up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here's the next installment of the Balmera Arc! hope you guys are enjoying it. we'll probably still be here for another 2-3 chapters!  
> we got some fun little team-ups happening here, a little backstory for a few characters. sorry any Shiro stans out there as I'm not focusing too heavily on him yet, his time will come later don't you worry.  
> But, let me know in the comments how you're liking everything! anything you want to see happen or changed? headcanons you have? I'm always happy to see them.  
> Oh, also, if you guys have any nicknames you think would be cool for Lance to call the other paladins, feel free to share! I don't want to be too repetitive with them and I can only think of so many! you might see your suggestion in a chapter!  
> Anyway, see y'all next time!


	11. Into the Belly of the Balmera

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Are they experienced? No.  
> Are they trying their best? Yes.  
> Will that be enough? ...Maybe.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> was gonna post this tomorrow because it's kind of late right now but then I figured 'fuck it' yaknow?

Hunk and Pidge run into five more groups of captives before they make it to the hidden cave the Balmera was apparently leading them to. They’ve picked up a lot of balmerans at this point and all of them keep giving Hunk odd looks whenever he starts talking with the planet or when he gets _just_ close enough to a cave wall for it to start glowing a soft blue he’s starting to associate with magic.

Their whispers and awe-filled stares are starting to make him nervous. They all keep treating him like some kind of hero when he _isn’t._ He’s just some kid in over his head but trying to do the right thing.

Man, he wishes Lance were here. She’s always been better at handling attention than he was. She’d probably be thriving under the air of stardom that’s slowly choking him.

_“Stop! Right here.”_

Hunk freezes immediately in front of a random blank wall. He stares at it for a long moment but only finds the same rock and dust that makes up every other wall in these tunnels. He looks at the opposite wall, thinking that maybe he’s just standing the wrong way around but no, that one is just the same.

He huffs and stares at the dirt beneath his feet, utterly confused. “Okay, you got me. What am I supposed to be looking at?”

The soft blue of Balmeran magic glows warmly beneath his feet and the whispering behind him begins in earnest once more.

Oh, the Balmera _so_ did that on purpose.

 _“Just a moment, my dear Guardian,”_ the voice sounds almost tired in his mind, a weary sort of feel to it that fills Hunk with sympathy. _“Terraforming takes energy and I fear I’m in rather short supply these days.”_

Worry worms its way into his chest, making him jittery and on edge. Well, more on edge than he already is. “Should you be exerting yourself this much then? Are you okay to be doing this?”

A smooth, humming laugh of the Balmera mixes with the deeper chuckle of Keone in his mind. _“Thank you for your concern, youngling. But this must be done. I can hardly sit back and let my Children suffer. Besides, your Lion is helping as much as she can.”_

“Keone? How is she doing that?”

_“In addition to her original boost on your first visit beneath my surface, she’s siphoning as much energy to me as she dares. It’s the reason I’m even able to help and speak to you right now.”_

Before he can respond to that, the wall in front of him shudders and breaks open with a muffled _crack._ Blue light engulfs the air around him, bathing him and the walls in the unearthly light.

If Hunk was insane, he’d say the air around him tingled with power. A low humming thing that reminds him of Keone and her mountain song.

But Hunk is not insane, and saying those types of things, even in his head, are a big _no-no_ as long as he’s still trying to wrap his head around actual, real-life _magic._

The balmerans behind him gasp and start crowding around him, a few of the younger ones squeezing around his legs and disappearing into the cave beyond despite the low hiss of disapproval from their parents. Pidge follows the young balmerans quickly, curiosity pushing her forward easily enough.

Hunk follows more slowly, letting the cloying feeling of the earth and humming vibrations pull him forward.

Stepping into the room, Hunk is surprised to see hundreds more balmerans squeezed into a space that seems far bigger than it should be and yet still too small. Pidge gasps at the sight, her spine going taut with tension as she takes in the room utterly _filled_ with magical energy.

Every balmeran inside is pressing their hand to any available space of wall or floor. The walls of the cave seem to come _alive_ with the amount of energy flowing through them. If he focuses, he thinks he can feel the shifting of it beneath his feet.

If he thought the hall outside was bad with the humming, the cave inside was _deafening_.

It’s like the energy of an entire earthquake was compressed to a single point and squeezed into this room. The pull and push of tectonic plates, the roiling feeling of movement beneath your feet, the shifting of sands. It’s all like a feedback loop in this room, humming and bouncing around him like a never-ending song the walls are singing to him and him alone.

It fills him up from the inside and for a moment Hunk is scared to even _breathe._

“Guardian?” A voice calls from the edges of the crowd and Hunk blinks away the fog clouding his mind. Pulling himself from the addictive crooning of mountain song, he turns and find the person calling his name.

He comes face to face with Amel, their dark-colored appearance making them seem ethereal in all the softly glowing light. Their face breaks out in relief when they see him and they rise to their feet quickly, making their way over. Behind them, Colril catches sight of him too and grabs Mal to help them hobble over.

Amel reaches him first and clasps their large hands around his face. It’s a gesture so familiar that he has to blink away the afterimage of his Mother in their place before the homesickness overtakes him completely.

“Oh, blessings upon the Balmera, we are saved! You are back to us! We had wished for your safety and I am glad our hopes were answered.”

“I promised, didn’t I?” Hunk says, smiling as Amel squeezes his face in joy, squishing his cheeks together before releasing him.

“Guardian!” Colril greets, grasping his forearm when Amel steps back. “I am glad we meet again. Did you accomplish your quest?”

“Yes,” Hunk says, “Thanks to you guys. I heard from Shay you all helped retrieve the crystal after Coran and I were captured.”

“T’was nothing. Anything for a friend of the Balmera,” Colril waves of the praise heartily.

“Speaking of Shay,” Hunk says, looking around at the crowd none too subtly, “where are they?”

The three balmerans in front of him droop.

“We had hoped they were with you,” Amel says sadly and Hunk’s breath catches in his throat. “They were in another tunnel when the galra came. We haven’t seen them or Rax since the attacks started.”

“I’ll find them,” Hunk finds himself saying before he even realizes he’s opened his mouth. Though, he finds he can’t regret it like most of his impulsive promises. Not with the way the Touchstone is burning against his chest with a phantom heat. “I _promise_ I will.”

Amel chuckles softly. “Oh, of that we have no doubt, Guardian.”

Hunk smiles sheepishly at their knowing expression when Colril’s eye catches on Pidge who’s standing off to the left, eyeing the interaction curiously.

“Is this the famed Lance? The one who holds such an esteemed place as Guardian’s kin?” Colril pauses for a long moment before leaning into Hunk’s space and lowering their voice to a level that might seem like a whisper to them but is still clearly audible to everyone in a three-foot radius. “She is rather small, no? Are you sure she is fully healed?”

Hunk has to cover his snort with a timely couch when he sees that way Pidge’s face screws up at the mention of her height. Meanwhile, Colril looks even more concerned.

“No, no. This is Pidge,” Hunk says before she can get too angry, his voice thick with poorly concealed amusement. “She’s a friend of mine and fellow Paladin. Lance is somewhere else helping other balmerans.”

The family turns their eyes upon Pidge and take in the armour she wears, similar to Hunk’s but already shifting into something more suited to Pidge. Something sleeker and more… eccentric.

Amel’s eyes widen. “The Jade Paladin! It is an honor to meet you, Guardian of Flora. Your wisdom is told of in many of our stories.” Pidge puffs up like the peacock she is and Amel excitedly turns to him. “Are all your allies here?”

Hunk nods and around him, the balmerans close enough to overhear their conversation devolve into hushed whispers. He hears the words ‘onyx’, ‘guardians’, and ‘ruby’ thrown around more than once. He wonders what they’re saying.

He hopes it’s good. And preferably less hero-worship-y than before.

“We are all truly saved then,” Mal says simply. As if it's a fact.

Hunk wishes he had as much faith in them as the balmerans did. He thinks if they all knew this was their first planet liberation experience, they would all be far more worried.

But he also doesn’t want to worry them so there’s no way he’s going to be the one to tell them.

“What are you all doing?” Pidge asks staring off at a cluster of balmerans who are bathed in a particularly intense focus of light.

“Helping as much as we can,” Mal answers, voice raspy and deep. “The Balmera is trying Her best to keep us hidden. Your Lion has helped greatly but She is still weakening. She is using too much energy terraforming to keep us protected. We are giving as much as we can… but it will not be enough.”

The three of them look heartbroken as they gaze out at the sea of people surrounding them and something like dread pools in Hunk’s stomach.

“Our Balmera is still dying. I fear that this will be Her last gift to us.”

***

Keith stalks on ahead of Lance, unwilling to look back at her but knowing that she’s following just behind his shoulder. No matter what he tries, he’s almost hyper-aware of her presence.

Anger bubbles in his chest and his lungs feel like they’re filling with water. The bond he and Lance share is slowly trying to drown him, and Keith doesn’t even know why he’s surprised. Doesn't know why he even _tried_ with her.

The impossible girl with too many faces to keep track of. The girl with too many personalities and seemingly built of _infuriating_ contradictions.

She was just… _too much._

Keith didn’t know how to handle her. Doesn’t know how to act or react or… do _anything_ really. One moment she’d be fine with him, joking and calm and then the next she’d be at his throat. A wave of anger he doesn’t understand burning in her eyes and igniting a matching flame in his throat as he spills acid coated words right back at her.

Shiro was an _idiot_ to think they could get along. Lance and him were too different for-

Keith stops abruptly, Lance bumping into him from behind.

“Hey!” she hisses over his shoulder, looking for whatever stopped him. “What gives, Charmander?”

Keith ignores her and her odd nicknames he’s half-convinced are being used to make fun of him in some way. Instead, he focuses on the strange feeling that caught his attention and stares at the ground curiously.

It feels like there’s something beneath his feet, something moving beneath the ground. Which is crazy. His boots are made to withstand the vacuum of space, no way he can just _feel_ the ground beneath him.

He crouches down to more closely examine it anyway.

He presses his palm into the dirt and immediately, something tingly rises against his hand. Like a cat arching into your hand, it curves into him. It feels like a vibration but without the movement and something that--strangely--reminds him of Hunk. Warm and solid and like something humming but with no sound.

It startles him and he pulls his hand back quickly.

“Do you feel that?” he asks because he wants to confirm he’s not crazy and he at least trusts Lance enough to not lie about it.

She leans over his back, hands on her knees for support, and leaning dangerously forward to see what he’s doing with his hands.

“Feel _what_ , Mullet Brain?” she says the exact moment the wall to their left splits open for seemingly no reason. It causes her to jump, losing her balance and catching herself on his shoulders.

Keith grunts at the sudden weight change but easily shifts his balance to keep the two of them from toppling over.

The pair of them stare at the opening in the wall for a long moment, neither of them moving.

After a pointed silence, a soft blue light seems to flare almost exasperatedly into existence, starting where Keith's hand is still resting on the ground and leading into the tunnel that steadily moves upwards.

“So that’s not creepy at all,” Lance says conversationally. “Was _that_ what you were feeling?”

Keith narrows his eyes and hums an uneasy ‘maybe’. He doesn’t like this.

“Coran?” Lance asks into her comm, “We have a tunnel that just appeared from nowhere. Can you enlighten me as to what the hell that means?”

 _“I’m sorry, a tunnel appeared from_ nowhere?” comes Coran’s disbelieving lilt. It does little to reassure Keith.

“Uh, yeah. There’s also this blue light? I’m pretty sure it wants us to follow it, but I’d rather not walk into _another_ trap. I haven’t even walked into the first one yet.”

Keith sniffs at her joking tone, shifting on the balls of his feet and knocking his knuckles against the ground curiously. The flow of _whatever_ under the ground has stilled but he can still _feel_ it if he tries. It rubs at him awkwardly but not maliciously. Makes him feel wrongfooted.

He at least knows how to deal with malicious. Weird non-violent things beneath the ground? Not so much.

Keith breathes in deeply. He really doesn’t need anything else confusing in his life at the moment. The Paladin seemingly content with using him as an armrest is more than enough, he thinks.

He tries not to analyze why he hasn’t just shrugged her off yet or how quickly and easily she adjusted to his new position when he’d shifted earlier.

He ignores it because he has no idea what to _do_ with it even if he wanted to.

She’s already made it abundantly clear she doesn’t like him so he’s not sure what she’s doing right now. He’s half convinced that she’s doing it _just_ to confuse him. He wouldn’t put it past her.

 _“It looks like it leads above the cavern they’re holding all the hostages in,”_ Coran informs them with no small amount of surprise.

Keith looks up at Lance and the two blink at each other.

“That’s weird,” Keith says, stating the obvious but Lance doesn’t call him out on it.

“That it is, Mullet,” she agrees. “Are you sure it’s safe?”

Coran hums. _“As safe as it can be, my dear.”_

A breath escapes her in a large _whoosh._ “Okay, well. Normally I’d say that, as the only person of color in the area, walking into a horror movie-esque tunnel of unknown origins is a _bad_ idea but you know what? I’m feeling reckless today. Let’s go I guess.”

Despite Keith not liking the _whatever_ under the ground and feeling kind of like he’s going insane because Lance can’t feel it too, he follows after her automatically when she struts into the tunnel in front of them. He falls into step at her right shoulder and keeps an ear out for anything trying to sneak up behind them.

He draws his sword so he has something to do with his hands and Lance only sends him a curious look over her shoulder before pulling out her own weapon and holding at the ready. Carefully, the two of them navigate the tunnel, flashlights embedded in their helmets powering on automatically due to the low light of the space.

For a long while, the only thing Keith can hear is themselves, their footsteps, their breathing, and Lance’s heartbeat. The earth around them seems to absorb all other sounds.

He strains his ears as far as he can and it’s why he hears the opening of the tunnel long before he can see it.

There’s a small opening at the end, enclosed on all sides but with a hole in the floor looking out over the center of the Balmera.

Lance is the first one to reach it, poking her head over the side of the opening as far as she dared. It takes her only a second of scanning the floor below them before she’s pulling back and swearing again. Keith is pretty sure whatever language she’s speaking, it’s not Spanish.

He leans over the edge as well, intent on seeing what they’re dealing with himself.

The first thing he sees is standing proudly in the center of the large cavern is a large mushroom shaped pillar colored with various shades of blue and orange. It almost seems to glow from within, and Keith has a feeling that if he touched it, he’d feel that same odd tingling sensation again but stronger this time.

The second thing he notices is that clustered around the pillar are dozens of balmerans, huddled together in fear while even more were escorted to the group by galra sentries.

And there were _a lot_ of galra sentries. The place was practically crawling with them, the whole floor a flurry of movement too busy to keep track of.

Keith didn’t even try to stop the mumbled swear from escaping his mouth.

It wasn’t looking good for them. Tactically, their only advantage was, _maybe,_ surprise and that the cavern's walls were irregular enough that the low light made them heavily shadowed. Plenty of hiding places for a well-placed ambush or cover in a fight.

But even that could be a double-edged sword. Sure, they couldn’t be seen, but so would their enemies.

Lance crouches down at his right with a frustrated sigh. Tapping at her comm, she updates the rest of the team. “Keith and I have made it to the core. We have a visual but it’s… well, it’s not pretty.”

 _“What do you mean?”_ Shiro asks, voice hard with how he tries to hide the worry in his voice.

“We’ve got a lot of firepower down here. Ah, give me a sec.” She turns to Keith, canting her head towards the opening. “Make sure I don’t fall in?”

She only gives him enough time to nod before she’s lowering her entire upper body over the edge to hang upside down. Keith scrambles to grab onto the back of her knees and press them into the floor, keeping her from toppling down onto the unforgiving rock below.

Keith hisses at her angrily which Lance studiously ignores, instead twisting and turning in his hold and making his job _that_ much harder. After a long moment where he assumes she accomplished whatever it was, she was trying to do, Lance taps her foot on the floor three times. “Pull me back up, Shadow the Hedgehog.”

Keith contemplates the pros and cons of just dropping her before grumbling and doing as she said.

Shiro would be disappointed if he dropped Lance in the middle of what’s basically an anthill of galra soldiers.

She sits back on her heels, face flushed as the helmet retracts back into the suit, leaving her with only the visor. “Thanks, Mullet,” she grins brightly before tapping the comm nestled in her ear. “Okay, so, I’ve sent some photos of the cave and all the hostages to your HUDs.” As she says that there’s a beep and something pops up in the right-hand corner of his vision. Keith ignores it, knowing what he’s going to see anyway. “I’m open to ideas.”

 _“Why are all the pictures upside down?”_ Pidge asks incredulously.

“Don’t ask stupid questions,” Lance shoots back quickly, tapping away at something on her gauntlet. He’s pretty sure he hears her mumble something under her breath about ‘ungrateful children’.

Pidge sputters on the line causing Keith’s lips to twitch upwards.

 _“That is… a lot of galra sentries. What are we going to do about them?”_ Hunk asks. _“We can't just go in there, right? We’ll be killed!”_

 _“Well, we’re certainly going to need all hands on deck,”_ Shiro says tiredly over the comm. _“And possibly several tons of explosives.”_

Pidge and Hunk simultaneously start babbling excitedly and yelling in outrage, respectively. Before Shiro can properly calm them down and explain it was just his _horrible_ sense of humor--really Shiro, now is not the time for your nihilism--Allura silences them all with one of her new favorite sounds: an ear-splitting whistle.

All five of them groan in pain and he has to quickly look through the opening to make sure Allura hadn’t just given them away with her impossibly loud whistle.

_“I’m coming down there.”_

In front of him, Lance stiffens, straightening up to a kneeling position instead of sitting on her heels. “Okay, hold on a second right now-”

 _“I have to agree with the young miss, Princess,”_ Coran interrupts panicked. _“you need to stay here to pilot the ship and man the defenses.”_

_“You are more than capable of doing so in my place.”_

_“But, Princess-”_

_“That is an_ order _, Coran. As Princess Regent, you are to follow my commands.”_

There’s a long silence, no one willing to speak for fear of incurring the Princesses wrath.

 _“Of course, Princess.”_ Coran finally says, through gritted teeth. It’s the closest thing to anger Keith had ever heard from the normally bubbly advisor. It’s actually kind of scary.

And he can’t even see him.

 _“Does anyone_ else _have a problem with my decisions?”_

It’s like crickets, no one dare speaks. That is until Shiro sighs out a, _“Welcome aboard, Princess. We’re glad to have you.”_

Oh man, Shiro may be the leader, but even Keith knows that this situation is falling from his control _fast._ They’re all lucky his brother is just good at this whole flexible leadership thing because he’s pretty sure anybody else would be tearing their hair out as everything falls apart around them.

Keith can’t see Allura, but he imagines that she’s smiling triumphantly. _“I’ll be down in a couple of ticks. Don’t start without me.”_

_“Wouldn’t dream of it.”_

Lance leans in next to him conspiratorially, careful not to speak into the comm. “You know, if I didn’t know Shiro was gay as hell, I’d say they were flirting.”

Keith wrinkles his nose. “That’s gross. He’s my brother!”

Lance rolls her eyes. “ _Relax._ I made a comment about him flirting, not him jumping in the sack.”

“Lance!” he hisses, heat rising on his cheeks and making him angry.

She raises her hands in a surrender that’s belied by the crooked smirk on her painted lips. “Sorry! I didn’t take you for such a _prude_.”

“I’m not a _prude_. I just don’t like thinking- _that,_ about my _brother.”_

“Oh my god, are you _five?”_

“You’re five!” Keith shouts directly into his comm.

 _“I don’t know what you’re fighting about but both of you knock it off,”_ Shiro’s voice commands over the comms, startling both Keith and Lance.

“He started it!” “She started it!” the two of them say at the same time.

“What? No, I didn’t!” they say in sync again. “Knock that off! _Stop it!”_

“Hey!” Shiro shouts, a distinctly frustrated note in his voice tinged with disappointment.

Both he and Lance immediately look at the ground like kicked puppies despite the fact that Shiro can’t even _see_ them.

 _“Now, as I was saying while you two were goofing off; both of you are not to engage the galra under_ any _circumstances. You remain hidden until the rest of us get there, am I clear?”_

“Yes, Shiro,” they both intone, wincing.

 _“Good,”_ And with that, he clicks off the line.

For a moment no one speaks, then Pidge, because she has as much tact as Lance does, singsongs, _“You two got in_ trouble~” over the comms.

Next to him, Lance buries her face in her hands to the sound of his sputtering half-growls and Pidge’s cackling.

***

The bookstore is dustier than she remembers it being, but no less comforting. The familiar chime on the door brings on an overwhelming sense of nostalgia and Sabre smiles, wide and unabashed.

“One moment, please!” an all too familiar, thick Scottish accent calls out from the back room.

“Oh, no! Please, take your time!” Sabre calls out, mischief dancing in her voice.

She has to stifle a laugh when, at the sound of her voice, there’s a loud bang and chaotic rustling followed immediately by colorful swearing. The sounds of hurried shuffling get closer and then the curtain to the back room is being thrown aside to reveal unruly red hair and a collection of freckles in the form of a person.

“Sabre! Ye’re back!”

She holds her hands out at her sides, “So it appears I am.”

Alex grins widely before launching themself at Sabre, almost running into the counter in the process. Sabre easily picks them up and spins them around the small open space at the shop counter.

When she sets them back down, Alex takes a half step back before solidly punching her in the arm, their grin now a half scowl that does nothing to hide the joy in their eyes.

“Ow!” she not-yelps. Sabre definitely doesn’t yelp. “What the hell was that for?”

 _“Oh_ , how ‘bout for nae telling me ye were in town?” they huff, crossing their arms and cocking out their hip in a way that makes their long red hair sway out behind them. Sabre thinks it would be very distracting having all that hair attached to you. “An’ also ne’er _callin’ me?_ I know the museum gives ye one of those fancy new ones so ye hae _na_ excuse. Ah talked tae yer parents, too! _They_ get calls.”

 _“Okay,_ Alex, I’m sorry,” she groans, unwilling to listen to another one of their lectures. “I still maintain that punching me was unnecessary.”

Alex scoffs, “And ah maintain that ye’re a piece o’ shite.”

“Rude!”

Alex shakes their head at her, turning back to the counter and hopping up on it to lounge, the soft flannel they’re wearing splayed open to show the graphic tee underneath that says _‘bold words for someone within stabbing range’_ in fancy, silver cursive.

“So, what brings ye tae mah neck o’ the woods, eh? ‘Sides my lovely company, tha’ is.”

Sabre sobers a fraction at that question. She’d been hoping Alex wouldn’t ask but she should’ve known better. Her friend always did seem to have the ability to get to the heart of all her problems, even without trying most times.

But Sabre couldn’t rightly tell her that she was in town because her sisters were trying to dig up anything they could on the Garrison and its officers. Or that she was sticking around because someone might need to pick a lock or get past some interesting security and she was the best they had if they didn’t want to get their cousins involved. And she _certainly_ can’t tell her about the conspiracy Lance is most definitely a part of.

Sabre is trying to think of something to tell them when she realizes that the cover story the Garrison used would work just fine. Sure, it’s a bit weird that she’s here in Arizona instead of out in California with the rest of her family--beside her sisters, of course--but she can claim needing to see the place Lance had been making a ruckus in or picking things up from the school.

She doesn’t like lying to her friend, but she’d rather keep them out of it. She and her sisters still don’t know _why_ the Garrison is doing this. It could be more dangerous than they expected.

Lance did have a habit of getting into things she shouldn’t. Maybe she and Hunk found out something they shouldn’t and were…

Sabre shakes her head harshly.

 _No._ It’s not even a possibility. Lance is _fine._

They just need to find her.

“Sabre?” Alex asks tentatively, voice still gruff but kinder in a way.

“I just… did you hear?” she asks quietly. “About Lance?”

Alex pales in front of her, their already light skin going worryingly white. Even their freckles look paler.

Her friend clenches their hands on the edge of the countertop as if to ground themselves before speaking. “Yeah. Ah did.”

Alex doesn’t say anything else. Not ‘sorry’ or ‘my condolences’ or anything else stupid like that. They know it would only make Sabre more upset. Even if Lance isn’t _dead,_ she’s still missing and that hurts like something too close to grief and fear for Sabre to feel comfortable.

So she just nods, and Alex nods back.

After a long moment, they hop down from the counter, something like determination on their face. “Tha’s it! We’re goin’ shoppin’!”

“Excuse me?”

“Shoppin’! Tae git yer mind off things!”

Sabre glares at them. “I hate shopping.”

Alex rolls their eyes. “Nae ye don’. We’re goin’ tae th’ farmers market! Ye love tha’ place.” They smile, all teeth and barely concealed sadness and Sabre realizes this might have more to do with Alex than her friend would like to admit. Lance and Alex weren’t close by any means, not like her and Lance were, but everyone loved her.

Sabre was pretty sure it was impossible _not_ to.

So, with a put-upon sigh, Sabre agrees to getting dragged around by her friend.

Alex claps excitedly. “Great! Let me git all this closed up and we’ll head out.”

 _“Yay,”_ Sabre says, only half sarcastically.

***

Hunk was keeping an eye out for Shay, of course, he was, he was _worried_ , but he wasn’t really sure how he was supposed to find them exactly. The Balmera, while being a smaller planet, was still a _planet._

It’s a big place and Hunk had more time-sensitive tasks he still had to do. The Balmera’s heart was a more delicate situation than finding Shay. And logically, he knew it was more practical to go to the heart than if he tried wandering around the tunnels _hoping_ to run into Shay. But that doesn’t mean he has to _like_ it.

Luckily, he ends up not needing to choose.

Him and Pidge are carefully making their way down a low-lit tunnel when something stumbles in their path. Immediately, the two have their weapons drawn and aimed at the intruder (or, well Pidge has her’s drawn and aimed. Hunk fumbled his and it’s now lying on the floor useless. He really hopes nobody tells Allura because she’ll make him practice with it until he’s sick of the color yellow.)

“Wait!” the figure shouts. “We are friends!”

Hunk starts, blinking into the darkness and, yeah, those are pretty familiar glowing eyes. “Shay?” he says, barely restrained joy in his voice.

The yellow eyes thin and Hunk hopes that means they’re smiling. “Guardian!”

In the next second, something rams into him and _squeezes_ until he thinks he’ll pop. Is this what people feel like when he hugs them?

“Oh! I had heard whispers that you Guardians had come but it is so good to see you with my own eyes!” Eventually, they set him down and now that they’re closer, Hunk can see they are _definitely_ smiling. “I am glad you are back.”

Hunk tries very hard not to blush and he’s pretty sure he fails horribly. “I’m, uh, glad to be back,” he says awkwardly.

Pidge looks up from whatever she was fiddling with a second ago just to laugh at him. He kind of wants to kick her, but he’s scared he might break her if he does so he decides not to do that instead.

He clears his throat and notices the eyes glowing behind Shay. Probably Rax.

Hunk relaxes. “The rest of your family is safe. We just left them.” He tells them both and Shay almost slumps over in their relief. Hunk was scared for half a second that he would have to catch them which, well, would have been bad considering they are a rock person and probably very heavy.

“Thank the Balmera,” Shay says, sharing a glance with their brother as he emerges from the darker shadows. Shay turns back to him, smile wide once more. “I am glad you too, are safe.”

“Well, I do have your Touchstone,” he says pragmatically, pulling the chain out of his collar. “‘Course I’d be safe. You said so didn’t you?”

Rax makes some sort of strangled sound at the sight of the lightly glowing stone and Shay reaches out to hit them in the shoulder. Hunk looks on confused at the reaction.

“Uh…”

“Mind him not, Guardian,” Shay says just a bit too quickly. Rax glares at her and the Touchstone still held in Hunk’s hand. The expression kind of makes him want to put it away. Like he’s done something wrong just by having it.

But that’s a dumb impulse and Rax is just confrontational so Hunk’s not going to do that. Instead, he lets it settle on the outside of his armour. The glow from the Touchstone mingling with the glow of the stylized ‘V’ on his chest makes a sphere of green light hover over his heart.

The sight of it makes something happy flutter in his chest and when he looks back up at Shay, they’re staring at it too, a small smile playing at their lips. Rax makes another grumbled noise off to the side but they both ignore it this time.

Hunk isn’t dumb. It’s obvious that the Touchstone means something to their people that Hunk isn’t really grasping, but for once? He doesn’t really care.

***

It’s taking the others longer than they expected to make it to the core. They’re checking in every so often and Coran’s feeding them all updates periodically as he had been since they entered the tunnels. But it seemed that some of the galra sentries her and Keith had taken out were found and the galra were more on edge than before.

It was making it harder for Coran to lead the others down unseen paths, especially with them getting closer to the center where it was more heavily guarded.

Lance blew out a long sigh, stirring the bangs on her forehead

Keith had taken to pacing around the hole in their tunnel, looking down every so often and overall giving Lance the impression of an itchy trigger finger. If the others didn’t get here soon, she worried that the idiot would charge in himself, orders be damned.

And with her as his self-appointed babysitter and only back-up for the foreseeable future, she’d be obligated to jump in after him to save his ass and then they would _both_ end up dead.

Which would be… just _great_.

“Can you sit down for a second?” Lance asks, trying her best to keep the annoyance and stress out of her voice. She isn’t sure how well she succeeded but if Keith’s sharp look in her direction in any indication, it wasn’t as well as she hoped.

“How can you just sit there and just… _wait?”_

“Well, I have this thing called _patience_ ,” she quips, raising her eyebrow at him unimpressed.

Keith glares at her.

Lance rolls her eyes and watches as another group of balmerans gets dragged into the cave below. The sentries have been keeping up a steady stream of hostages since Keith and her arrived, each group treated worse than the last.

The galra were getting impatient, and with their impatience, came cruelty. It really wasn’t helping either of them want to stay put. And both of them refused to look away.

A pair of masochists they were.

But it wasn’t until one of the galra sentries drew back the butt of their gun and brought it down _hard_ on the back of a muzzled balmeran’s head, sending them to the ground did it become too much. Lance had to shove herself in front of Keith to stop him from jumping down and attacking anything that got close enough.

“Lance!” he shouts, just shy of too loud and she slaps a hand over his mouth.

“You’re going to get us both _killed!”_ she hisses at him.

He reaches up and rips her hand away from his mouth to glower. “We need to get _down_ there!”

“We _need_ to follow orders! Nevermind that your plan is _suicide!_ We can’t take out that many guards on our own! The others will be here soon.”

“Not soon enough.”

“Yeah, well-” Lance stops because she really doesn’t have anything to say to that. It _is_ taking them too long. And the galra are getting impatient and twitchy which in turn is making _Keith_ impatient and twitchy.

Lance needs to _think_ of something. She can’t just keep Keith here; he won’t listen to her for long enough. But she also can’t let him just jump down and start slashing anything that moves.

She needs to give him something to do. Something productive and likely to keep him out of as much trouble as possible.

“I bet you I can rescue more balmerans than you can,” she blurts out.

Keith glare turns into something more incredulous but no less angry. “What?”

“I bet you I can rescue more balmerans than you can,” she repeats. Then, as an afterthought. “Without getting caught.”

“This isn’t a _game,_ Lance. _”_

 _Thanks_ , like she doesn’t already know that. But if she needs to play cocky and arrogant jokester to keep Keith alive and focused then she’ll do it.

“What?” Lance taunts, a smirk playing across her lips. “Scared you’ll _lose?”_

As if those were the magic words, Keith seems to stand taller and more determined. “Of course I’m not! You’re on.”

Lance grins, her smile a _hair_ too sharp. _“Good.”_

***

Alex drags her along the length of the market, bouncing from one stall to the next and making Sabre carry all of their bags. She bears it all with a tired grin but is honestly enjoying watching her friend flutter about the place, alternating between bullying stall owners into better deals and excitedly gushing over various knick-knacks.

It reminds her of when they used to do this in college. In between papers and exams and classes, Alex would drag her out to some renaissance fair or market or anywhere colorful really.

She’s pretty sure Alex is the only reason she didn’t become a shut-in at college.

But it’s been years since the last time they did this. It’s nostalgic, in a way. Nice.

That is until she stumbles straight into a random stranger and sends them both crashing to the ground.

All of Alex’s things go flying, along with the man she bowled over. The pair land in a heap on the ground and the crowd walks around them but doesn’t offer to help. Alex had run off ahead and is nowhere to be seen. Typical.

Sabre shuffles around so she no longer straddling a complete stranger. “Sorry! Sorry! I didn’t see you there. Are you okay?”

The man groans, his glasses askew on his face and light brown hair slightly mussed. “I’m good. And it’s okay, I hadn’t been paying attention either.” He sits up slowly, a hand on the back of his head, rubbing slightly.

Sabre doesn’t think too much of it besides mild worry. It’s probably going to bruise but he should be fine. That is, until he pulls his hand away and Sabre sees red on his fingers.

Panic spikes in her chest. “Oh, shit!”

She grabs his head in her hands, firmly but gentle, like Mace is always telling her to be, and twists him so she can see. There’s a cut at the base of his skull, close to his neck. When Sabre looks where he fell, she sees one of the figurines Alex had bought earlier lying there with a freshly broken arm. The jagged edge of the break is smeared with blood and Sabre winces at the sight of it.

“I am _so_ sorry!” she says again because she thinks the situation deserves it. She releases his head to start rummaging through her bag for the mini first aid kit Mace forces her to keep on her at all times citing her ‘accident prone’ nature.

“Ah,” he says placidly as she pulls out the tan bag with a red cross on it. “I’m okay. Nothing more than a scratch.”

“‘Scratch’ my ass, you’re bleeding all down your neck!”

Sabre then realizes that they’re still sitting in the middle of the street with all of Alex’s purchases and the man’s belongings scattered around them. It gives her the sort of feeling of needing to be in two places at once and she’s getting frustrated.

Then, like the godsend they are, Alex finally comes back, bouncy and then worried when they see the scene.

“What happened ‘ere?”

“Later. Can you pick this up? I need to get him to him somewhere less crowded.”

Alex nods and sets about doing that while Sabre helps the man to his feet, keeping a careful hand on his arm and watching his face to make sure he doesn’t go pale despite his skin being almost as dark as hers.

“You really are very kind, but I assure you, _I am fine._ ” the man insists again and Sabre snorts.

“You’re almost as bad as Lance,” she snaps without thinking and the stinging pain that follows the statement is at the same time expected and a surprise. “Head injuries aren't to be taken lightly. Besides, if my sister found out I left someone who was injured without helping them, she’d wring my neck.”

They find a bench off to the side and Sabre pulls a water bottle out of her backpack, dousing a bandana she had in there and turning the man’s head so she can get at the wound.

In all honesty, it’s not that deep but head wounds bleed far more than Sabre’s comfortable with. She gives him a warning before she starts dabbing at the blood, trying her best to clean it.

He hisses out in pain and Sabre apologizes again.

“Stop doing that,” he tells her in a monotone that still somehow manages to convey a sharpness.

She snatches her hand back, scared she might’ve really hurt him now. “What? Did I hurt you again?”

“No,” he intones in a voice that implies Sabre is particularly dull. “Just stop apologizing. It wasn’t your fault.”

Her eyebrows furrow, “But I-”

“My god, you’re almost as bad as Taka-” the man cuts himself off abruptly, his shoulders going tense and his mouth snapping shut with a sharp click.

Sabre clears her throat, hoping to dispel whatever sobering thought crossed his mind. “I’m Sabre, by the way.”

The man hums. “Adam. Pleasure to meet you. Well, besides how you used me as a human bowling pin, that is.”

It takes Sabre a second to realize he’s trying to tell a joke. His voice is so flat and she can’t see his face to guess at his expression. But, when she realizes what he said, she snorts, lightly applying some antiseptic to the cut. He’s lucky it’s on the edge of his hairline and that he has a military cut of sorts. It means she can at least _try_ to put a bandage on it so it stays clean.

“Yeah, well. I’ve always been a bit accident prone. It’s normally me with the injury.”

“Is that so?” Adam says in that flat voice of his, but Sabre gets the feeling he’s amused.

Sabre laughs for him. “Yeah. It gave my little sister a lot of practice at least. She’s training to be a doctor right now actually,” she boasts, always proud of Mace and always willing to brag about her family’s achievements.

“A medical career is a very illustrious position. You must be very proud.”

“Oh, believe me, we are.” Sabre smooths a bandage over the cut and prays that it will stay on him until he can get it properly checked out. “All done!”

Adam reaches up to lightly prod at the bandaging she did. It’s not as good as Mace’s but, well, Sabre thinks she did okay for someone who hasn’t had four and a half years of medical schooling.

“Thank you for your kindness. It’s most appreciated.”

She waves her hand as if to wave off his thanks. “No problem. Say, do you always talk like that?”

Adam looks up from where he was cleaning his glasses on a special handkerchief he pulled out of his blazer pocket and Sabre realizes that this man might be far more posh than she realized. “I beg your pardon?”

Sabre, because she can’t keep her mouth shut--it’s a family trait--says, “That! That right there. You sound like an old, rich cartoon character.”

Adam blinks at her, his face just as unreadable as his voice. “Which old rich cartoon character?”

Sabre blinks at him.

“Scrooge McDuck. Except without the accent or emotion.” Adam raises an eyebrow and Sabre has to bite her lip to keep from smiling. Oh, she _likes_ him. “Actually, I think your more like Captain Holt, you know, from Brooklyn Nine-Nine? But he isn’t a cartoon, so…”

“Hmm. I shall take that as a compliment.”

Sabre _thinks_ she sees his mouth quirk upwards just the tiniest bit but she’s probably wrong.

Alex takes that moment to make their grand entrance, stumbling up to them slightly dusty and hair even more of a mess than it was earlier. Sabre stares at them incredulously.

“What the hell happened to you?”

Alex huffs. “People are rotten liars who lie. Ah just had tae chase down a two-year-old who tried tae tak' th' dragon figurine ah bought for th' shop.”

Sabre nods sagely.

“Welp, it’s been lovely meeting you Adam, but I’m sure you have some sort of posh boy convention to get to, so I’ll get out of your hair.”

Adam stares up at her without a single change in expression but Sabre just beams down at him.

“Well, I do have a water aerobics class I need to get to.”

“I can’t tell if your joking or not.” Adam blinks. “Doesn’t matter,” Sabre tells him, shaking her head and reaching into her backpack again for a piece of paper and a pen. She hastily scribbles a series of numbers on it and presses it into his hand.

He raises an eyebrow. “And what would this be?”

“My number,” she says simply and Alex rolls their eyes.

Adam’s expression doesn’t really change but he blinks quicker and clears his throat. Sabre thinks it means he’s embarrassed.

“My sincerest apologies but I’m not… _interested_ in, well-” he cuts himself off to clear his throat again.

It’s Sabre’s turn to blink up at him now. Then, she opens her mouth and laughs in his face. “My guy,” she says in between chuckles, “I am a _raging_ lesbian. I’m not ‘interested’ either.”

“Oh.”

“Yeah, _‘oh’_ ,” she smirks. “But I like you. Call me,” she mimes shaking a phone near her ear with her hand before stuffing both of them in her pockets as she starts to walk backward. “See you around, McDuck.”

Alex trots after and shoves a bag into her hands as they hook their arm through her own.

“How _forward_ of ye,” Alex teases. “He must be a special lad.”

Sabre shrugs. “I suppose we’ll see. But he made me laugh.”

 _“Ah,”_ Alex says as if it is the secret to the universe. “Th’ fastest wey tae a woman’s heart. A joke.”

Sabre shoves them until they stumble and continues on with Alex shouting about revenge and betrayal behind her.

The smile on her face, surprisingly, doesn’t move for a long while after that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there are so many converging plotlines in this chapter it's making my head spin.  
> Very little of Lance in this chapter. Or, well, very little of Lance's POV in this chapter. figured it was time for a few other characters to shine. Also! welcome Adam to the sideplot line-up! In the land of fanfiction, we don't bury our gays! Also, do you guys like him? I had a hard time deciding on what I wanted his character to be like but eventually decided I really wanted a Raymond Holt like character because he is honestly just hilarious to me and I figured it'd be interesting to see him interact with the rest of the cast. Here's to more of him in future chapters!  
> What are you looking forward to most next chapter? Which character do you want to see next? Let me know!


	12. Fight for Truth, Live for Tomorrow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which people fight enemies and allies alike

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me?? posting at a reasonable time of day??? more likely than you think

The seventh sentry falls and Lance is _still_ surprised by how quiet the suppressor makes her gun. It’s near- _silent_ which is maddening for a whole slew of reasons she refuses to get into. She decides that whatever laser ammo she has loaded into the thing has a less noisy discharge and just leaves it at that. Breaking her mind over the wacky laws of physics and engineering they’re encountering in space seems to be more up Hunk and Pidge’s alley. They seem to be having fun with the new hobby of theirs and Lance doesn’t want to step on any toes.

Or have a breakdown about what is and isn't possible now.

_Anyway,_ she’s hidden herself in an alcove perfectly situated to be hard to see from anyone rounding the corner but gives her the perfect vantage point to knock out sentries and wrangle balmerans to safety.

“That’s twenty-six for me!” she whispers gleefully while seeing a trio of balmerans off to the hidden tunnel path her and Keith had found earlier. She figures that's the least likely place for the galra to look seeing as they probably don’t know it exists yet.

_“You’re lying!”_ Keith groans back at her. She isn’t sure where he is, only that he’s covering another exit on the other side of the cavern.

Lance gasps, offended. _“Oi!_ Am not!”

_“Then you’re cheating!”_

“Am _not!”_ she hisses. “You’re just bad at this game and it's making you cranky.”

It’s Keith’s turn to be offended now. _“I’m not bad at any game!”_

“Hmm, that’s arrogant of you, isn’t it?” Lance says idly, only half paying attention to what he’s saying anymore. There’s the sound of footsteps approaching if she listens for it and whatever comes out of his mouth is irrelevant anyway. “What about Monopoly? I bet you aren’t good at that one.”

_“What are you-”_

“Or Twister. I mean, you might be good at it, but no one can beat me a Twister so really everyone is bad compared to me.”

_“That’s arrogant of you, isn’t it?”_ Keith parrots back at her in a greatly offensive impression of her own voice. _“Ha! Twenty-eight!”_

Lance scoffs at him and hits the next sentry between the eyes before swinging down from her perch to gather the fallen sentry and the balmerans. She does a quick headcount before grinning. “Thirty-one,” she says smugly to the sound of Keith’s frustrated grumbling. “Also, was that supposed to be my voice?”

_“How are you getting so many?”_ Keith says frustratedly. She cuts her mic to tell the balmerans who she is--which, apparently, is the Sapphire Paladin, Guardian of Ichor. It raises _so many_ questions, but it at least sounds suitably badass, so Lance is willing to leave questioning it for later--and point them in the direction of the tunnel while she tugs along the broken sentry to her growing collection of scrap metal.

With each sentry she downs, she becomes more wary of new ones. The galra were already on guard before. Downing even more of their sentries has to be pinging something on their radar except they aren’t _doing_ anything.

It’s just plain _suspicious_ and it’s setting Lance’s hair on end.

The balmerans see her off with hearty thanks and pledges of some sort while she climbs back up to her perch. Lance waves them away with a smile and thinks maybe she should pay more attention to what _exactly_ they’re pledging to, but she’s _busy_ right now, so she doesn’t.

“I’m just good at what I do,” she finally answers, flicking the comm back on.

Keith makes some sort of disbelieving noise and then goes silent.

Lance doesn’t really question it. As long as she doesn’t hear screaming and gunshots, she’s assuming he’s okay and probably just actively focusing on rescuing hostages rather than annoying her half to death like he had been doing.

But, as Keith is apparently trying to prove her wrong at every turn today, it’s not two seconds after she thinks that does a quiet but _very_ empathetic, _“Shit!”_ filter through the comms followed by the thundering sound of gunfire.

Lance startles so badly she nearly falls from the rocky outcropping and only saves herself by the grace of God and a lucky handhold. Her heart jackknives in her chest--or is it her throat?--because _dios mio,_ that was _gunfire._ _Guns._ What the _fuck did he do?_

“Keith?” she asks, voice most definitely strangled and eyes wild as she all but jumps from her perch. Her feet pound towards the cavern, each step making her panic flare higher and higher.

In the back of her mind, she can feel Hunk grow more and more worried, his heart starting to pound out a rapid beat in her chest that has nothing on what her own it doing right now. Bile is rising in the back of her throat because, _fuck,_ what if Keith is- What if he-

Lance rounds the last corner and finds herself faced with utter _chaos._

_“Keith!”_

***

_“I’m just good at what I do.”_

Keith rolls his eyes and scoffs, going back to prowling along hallways to look for hostages.

He’s peeking around corners and keeping a keen ear out for any approaching footsteps. He’s on edge and just _waiting_ for something to attack him when he hears it. A sharp cry from the cavern has him peaking around the corner before he really thinks about it.

He looks just in time to see something in the ceiling teeter over the edge of the secret opening and then _fall_.

Keith is moving before he made any conscious effort too, his feet flying across the rock like forest fire. Then the solid weight of the child slams into him and sends the two of them sprawling. It’s only Keith’s quick reflexes that save them from breaking their necks, tucking in close and wrapping himself around the kid, letting the armour take the brunt of the damage as they roll end over end.

He eventually gets enough control over them that he stops them with Keith crouched over the kid protectively. His eyes snap up to the literal army of sentries all around him and for a second nobody moves.

Then, Keith releases an empathetic _“Shit,”_ into the comms right as the firing starts.

He curls down over the child and raises his shield arm to protect the two of them as much as possible.

The racket of gunshots and bullets hitting the shield echo around the cave and clamor in his ears to where it almost hurts. His shoulder is jostled around from where it’s trying to keep the shield up and if Keith makes it out of this alive, he knows it’s going to be sore as hell later.

He’s pinned down. He can’t move or use his bayard because then he’d be exposing the child and he’s _not_ doing that. He’s cornered like an animal and Keith is trying really hard not to panic. Though, from an outside perspective, he probably just looks _very_ angry.

Which he kind of is, but not for the reasons people would think.

He casts his gaze around as much as he can from his position and tries to move them closer to a wall for cover. He only gets so far.

It’s then that Keith really starts to worry because there’s really _nothing he can do._

He’s action-oriented. He goes in, guns blazing and confident. But right here, right now, he is powerless and he doesn’t think he’s ever been so scared in his life.

Beneath him, the balmeran child whimpers and Keith curls closer over them, trying to provide comfort as well as protection. “We’ll be okay. It’ll be fine. It’ll be okay,” he whispers over and over again, trying to convince himself as much as the child.

That’s when he notices the blur of blue and gray darting in between the firing sentries as if it’s as easy as breathing. Something in his chest loosens.

He’s not dying today.

***

The Balmera gives a pained grunt in Hunk’s mind and he goes tense as a board. The tunnel around them shudders and Rax and Shay flinch as if struck.

“What is it? What’s wrong?” he asks frantically.

It takes far too long for the planet to answer. Pidge stares at the three of them worriedly but Hunk doesn’t _care_ right now. There’s something wrong and he needs to know what it is so he can _fix it._

_“The galra are firing in my heart. There’s something happening.”_ The Balmera sounds almost breathless with pain and Hunk’s chest _tightens_ with the physical flood of fear that slams into him.

He’s running off down the hallway in the next second, the other three stumbling after him trying to keep up.

The echo in his chest beats a fast-paced rhythm and it’s the only assurance he has that Lance is still _there_. He doesn’t know how long that will last.

***

She can’t stay still. It’s harder to hit a moving target so Lance keeps moving.

_Spin. Jump. Shoot._

She’s twirled and spun and ducked so much in the scant seconds she’s been in the cavern she’s not sure which way is up anymore. The only thing she’s sure of is the sound of gunshots and the exhilarating feeling of hitting her target before she moves on.

_Duck. Vault. Shoot._

At one point she thinks she uses one sentry to vault over another one and takes out three at a time with one shot. She’d be prouder about it if she had the chance to breathe and actually _process_ the level of badassery she just accomplished.

_Sidestep. Spin. Shoot._

But, as it is, she’s trying not to die and she’s also trying to draw fire away from Keith--the _idiot--_ so he can gather his bearings and _help her, dammit._

_Jump. Duck. Shoot._

She’s twirling around and around in a way that’s starting to make her dizzy and Lance greatly wishes she had a gun better suited for the acrobatics she’s performing right now. The bastardized pulse rifle in her hands is a thing of beauty but the amount of effort it takes to swing it around along with how it takes two hands to shoot is _really_ slowing her down.

_Shoot. Shoot. **Shoot**._

_Pistols would be nice,_ she thinks as she guns down a row of sentries who were stupid enough to stand closer together.

Then she realizes that they were close together because the sentries are surrounding her. Cornering her like they had Keith.

Lance starts to panic.

There’s too many around her. She can’t turn fast enough to shoot all of them. She’s going to die here and it will all be _over-_

Then a lot of things happen at once.

There’s the sound of a laser blast. Pain erupting across her shoulder. A flash of blue light. A shield raised in front of her. The color red. Weight leaving her hands. Lance stumbling backward into something hard. Spinning and spinning and _spinning_.

In the space of one blink and the next, Lance raises the shiny new pistols in her hands and cuts a swathe of panicked thoughts and sentries down in front of her.

“So happy you could join me, Kitty Rose,” she taunts breathlessly as she feels Keith do some sort of fancy footwork behind her that she tries to follow in order to keep them back to back.

Keith scoffs through the comms, the only way she can hear him over the din of the cavern. _“Join you?_ You’re _the one who took forever!”_

Lance ducks and spins when Keith suddenly swings around, his sword going over her head to impale a sentry that was getting to close for comfort. While she’s down there, she grabs the chance to take potshots at some sentries hanging around the back of the group.

“Oh? Well, if I recall, our orders were to _not_ engage. You’re lucky I showed up at all,” Keith crouches down to sweep the legs out from under a sentry and Lance shoots the one behind it. “Shiro’s going to be _very_ cross with you, Mister.”

Keith does something that might be a laugh when he turns to face her. She can’t see his face, but she can imagine it.

_“You’re one to talk! Hunk’s gonna be pissed!”_

Lance’s face drains of color at the very _thought._

“Oh! That’s _dirty.”_ She swings around him, putting their backs together once more and trusting him to watch her six. She downs sentries more than three yards away and leaves the closer ones for Keith.

_“And it’s not like I tried to!”_ he argues. _“There was a kid in danger!”_

“Playing Hero, are we?” Lance taunts cheekily, flipping out of the way as Keith twirls so they can switch sides. “Where’d you drop off the little tyke?

_“Behind the barrier,”_ he says gruffly, slicing off a sentry’s head with extreme prejudice. Lance spares a glance over to the shimmering purple barrier currently protecting any balmerans from stray shots.

She briefly wonders how he even got the kid past it before her attention is quickly stolen by a rude sentry trying to cut into her dance with Keith. She kicks it in the chest before shooting it in the face to remind it of its manners.

For a while, the fighting gets repetitive even if it is tiring. Lance clears out the farther sentries and Keith takes the closer ones while Lance matches his footwork with only slight difficulty.

Wash. Rinse. Repeat.

It’s actually surprising how well they seem to work together.

Their team spars have never gone this well before. But it might have something to do with the way the thread between them, normally too hot to touch and painfully fragile, is _humming_ in the air between them. A symphony of pounding drumbeats and humming guitar strings.

The resonation curls around them and makes it so they’re step for step, hit for hit, blood for blood. Lance’s heart _sings_ with the harmony between them, with the feeling of someone so completely on the same page with her it’s like they’re one solid being acting out in two bodies.

It’s… _thrilling._

Lance laughs even as the sentries start getting closer and closer. Pouring in through the connecting tunnels like a never-ending ant hill and slowly overwhelming them.

She’s not sure how, but she knows the others aren’t far behind.

They’ll show up long before her and Keith are in any _real_ danger.

Distantly, she can hear Keith laughing too, the echo of it thrumming along down the bond like warm honey.

***

Surprisingly or not, it’s Allura who makes it to the tunnel first, trailed by Shiro then Pidge and Hunk.

Keith doesn’t have much time to look at them, but he sees them poking through the crowd of sentries every once and awhile, assuring him they’re all still alive.

A glimpse of Allura where she’s waving around something akin to a bo-staff, taking out sentries without breaking a sweat.

Shiro, off in the middle swinging his glowing hand and spinning around in wide arcs.

Pidge, perched on top of Hunk’s shoulders and fiddling with something in her hands that Keith really hopes isn’t the bomb that he thinks it is, while Hunk himself swings his gun around like a club, refusing to shoot it so close to the Balmera’s heart but still doing plenty of damage.

Keith sticks to his back to back with Lance.

‘If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ he supposes.

Their seamless teamwork took him by surprise at first but feels more than natural now.  Like they’ve been doing this for years. Like they were always meant to be _this_.

All six of them are efficient, clearing out entire sections of sentries in seconds but they just seem to keep on coming. Like the entire planet is converging on them.

He’s starting to get out of breath and slow and almost takes a laser blast to the face for the fourth time. It’s only Lance suddenly leaning back and pushing him to bend forward--him compensating for the extra weight and sudden position change automatically--while she arches over him to return fire upside down, that saves him on more than one occasion.

It’s starting to get embarrassing, really.

Lance takes it into her hands to spin them around so he’s facing one of the outer walls, no sentries in front of him, while Lance guards his six so he can finally _take a breath_ without fear of dying. He throws his shield out in front of her, stabbing it into the dirt at her feet so she can duck behind it instead of deflecting it or dodging.

She drops to a knee behind it immediately.

They’re both looking worse for wear. Ragged breathing and singed armour that’s slowly trying to repair itself. Lance wills away her helmet from her face and gulps in deep lungfuls of air that isn’t recycled, and Keith follows not a second behind after he realizes it’s a great idea.

The air is still stale as all hell because they’re in the middle of a planet surrounded by miles of dirt, but even that’s better than the air inside the suit you’ve been sweating in for the least twenty-ish minutes.

“We can’t keep doing this,” Lance says, leaning around to take a shot at a sentry who was getting too close. It makes the others hesitant to continue approaching.

Keith licks blood from where his lip is split and nods. “But what else are we supposed to do?”

“Pidge has a plan,” Lance says confidently.

“How could you possibly know that?”

_“Guys, I have a plan!”_ Pidge yells cheerfully over the comms and Lance shoots him an _‘I told you so’_ look. He’s too tired to even roll his eyes her. He half-heartedly sticks his tongue out instead. _“Get to the edges of the cave but keep the sentries around the middle.”_

_“What exactly are you planning on doing?”_ Shiro asks, using his ‘no-nonsense’ voice that Keith knows is really just hiding how resigned he is to everything. While Pidge is more creative with her recklessness, she has nothing on the sheer _volume_ of stupid things Keith's done while in Shiro’s presence.

There are few things in the universe that could flap the unflappable Shiro.

Keith thinks his composure comes from all that time spent with Adam--which is honestly just _cheating_. Adam could deadpan the looney tunes if he wanted to. It was kind of scary sometimes.

_“Would you listen if I just told you to trust me?”_ Pidge replies innocently.

Shiro makes some vaguely disapproving noise that somehow construes his disappointment and also his resignation with dying at a young age from stress. Or it construes that to Keith at least. He heard that noise a lot freshman year.

_“Don’t kill anyone,”_ is all Shiro says.

_“Your confidence in me is insulting. Also, Hunk, tell the Balmera to brace itself.”_

_“What? Why?”_ Hunk shouts frantically over the comm.

_“Also tell it I’m very sorry because this will probably hurt,”_ Pidge pauses. _“A lot.”_

_“Pidge, what-?”_

Keith watches as something soars over the cavern to land in the middle of the space. The sentries move towards it like flies to honey and then a shimmering purple barrier is falling around all but a handful of sentries. A few _really_ unlucky ones get cut in half, the two pieces on either side of the barrier, and Keith winces.

Keith watches--part in fascination and part in horror--as whatever device had formed the barrier starts blinking ominously. The sentries, despite not being sentient as far as any of them can tell, start to look panicked.

_“Three. Two._ One!” Pidge count downs gleefully and Keith watches the inside of the shield erupts in a fiery display of dismembered sentry bits. _“Yeah! It worked!”_

The Balmera around them gives a low groan, the floor beneath them shaking slightly.

He and Lance turn to each other at the exact same time, eyes wide.

_“_ Remind me to _never_ get on Pidge’s bad side.”

Lance nods wordlessly, and Keith thinks that’s the first time he’s seen her not have a sharp quip or retort on the tip of her tongue.

The two of them shakily stand on their feet, Lance leaning heavily on him with her hand pressed to her side. A lucky shot hit her in the ribs and while it didn’t go through the suit, Keith knows that there has to be a damn big bruise there, so he doesn’t push her off him.

(Doesn’t even think about doing it, if he’s being honest with himself, which is something he tries not to do very often because it’s honestly a bad idea most of the time.)

The two of them are on their feet for less than a second when Hunk stumbles up to them, Pidge still on his shoulders. He skids to stop right in front of them and cups Lance’s face with a tenderness that still makes Keith uncomfortable to witness.

Easy displays of affection have always made Keith feel awkward and right now, with how Hunk looks so worried and relieved it feels a lot like Keith is intruding on what should be a private moment.

Lance nuzzles into Hunk’s hand and it seems to set him off. Keith watches as Hunk’s face goes pinched and really, it’s the closest Keith has ever seen him to being angry.

It’s unsettling. Like his face wasn’t made to house that kind of expression.

“You complete and utter _idiot!”_ Hunk starts off with and Lance curls in on herself just a little. “You could have been _killed_! Shiro told you to stay put, Lance. Why didn’t you listen? It would have been so much easier to listen! You wouldn’t have even needed to do anything! It takes exactly zero effort to _not_ do the thing, Lance! Zero! Why can’t you- How can you just-?” Hunk sighs roughly, words escaping him as he struggles to voice his anger.

Then, seemingly out of nowhere, his shoulders droop and his forehead knocks against Lance’s. The fight having left him just as quickly as it came.

“You’re going to be the death of me,” he continues in a tired sort of voice that makes _Lance’s_ face go all pinched and Keith feels _really_ uncomfortable with all of this right now. He wishes he could step away from this whole situation, but Lance is still leaning on him, so it seems like he’s keeping his front-row seat for this ride. “I’m going to die of a heart attack at twenty-seven and it will be all your fault. Is that what you want?”

“Of course not!” Lance exclaims, sounding horrified at the very _thought_.

“Then stop _doing_ this! Please! For once in your life, can’t you just _walk-_ ” Hunk cuts himself off abruptly, an almost stricken look on his face. Lance stares up at him, frozen like a deer in headlights and now both of them just look _sad_.

Keith really hopes neither of them cry. He _hates_ it when people cry.

He looks away from them and meets Pidge’s eye. He takes comfort in the fact that she looks just as uncomfortable as he feels right then so at least he’s not alone in his suffering.

Luckily, Shiro saves the day by barging in on this strange, awkward encounter he’s having. Keith turns his head, a smile tugging at the corners of his mouth before he realizes that that was a terrible idea, _why did he do that?_

Shiro looks furious as he stalks up to their group and any hope Keith had of getting out of this with minimal embarrassment dies a fiery and painful death.

“I know what you’re going to say and so you _really_ don’t have-”

“What in the blazes were you _thinking?”_ Shiro cuts him off, voice hard and his mouth pursed like it is when he’s particularly frustrated. “No wait, don’t answer that because you obviously _weren’t.”_

“Or you can say it anyway. That’s cool too,” Keith mutters under his breath. Lance shifts against him in a way where he just _knows_ she trying to hide her amusement and he would glare at her if he didn’t think looking away from Shiro would result in his immediate and very painful death.

“I gave you _specific_ orders, Keith. Orders you _deliberately_ went against. You could have jeopardized the whole mission or _worse:_ you could have gotten yourself _killed.”_

Keith wants to be angry. He really does. Shiro is treating him like a little kid again. Like he doesn’t understand that they’re fighting for their lives and the lives of countless billions of people in the universe in a war none of them should be a part of in the first place.

Believe him, he _knows_ what’s on the line. _He knows._

But he couldn’t just stand back and Shiro _knows_ that.

So, yes, he wants to be mad. And hell, if it were anyone else, if it weren’t one of two people he cared about more than anything else in the universe, he would be downright _furious_ at being spoken to like that.

But he isn’t and it’s not.

It’s Shiro. And it’s always so hard to be angry at Shiro, especially when Shiro is upset _about_ him. When he’s worried and scared because Keith ran off and did something reckless again.

It’s hard when Shiro is _disappointed_ in him.

Keith hangs his head, frustrated and irritated, but not _angry._ “I _know,_ Shiro. I’m sorry, but I couldn’t just-”

“It was my fault!” Lance pipes up from his side.

His head swivels to her so quickly he thinks he pulled something in his neck. Everyone’s looking at her in surprise, but she just looks anxious under their gazes. Her eyes flick to him for a fraction of a second; too short of a time to catch whatever it was inside them.

“I was the one who suggested a stupid competition that lead to us getting involved. It was my fault, Shiro.” Lance hangs her head. “I’m sorry.”

Shiro stares at her, something hard and contemplative in his eyes.

While what Lance had said is _technically_ true, it was Keith’s choice to step out of his hiding spot. It was his decision to give himself away. Lance didn’t have anything to do with those things. He doesn’t understand why she said that.

What reason would she have to lie?

Then it clicks. And when it does, Keith thinks that he may have to reevaluate how he sees Lance. Which is just… _great._ It’s nice to know that Lance enjoys screwing him over even when she’s doing something nice for him (or at least he thinks she is? Maybe he’s reading this wrong).

Keith sighs and goes to say _‘no, that isn’t really what happened at all’_ when the cavern around them shakes ominously, Hunk wincing where he’s standing.

“Well, as lovely as all of this is,” Allura says brightly, “We really should be going now. We can deal with _you two_ later on the ship.” She sends a significant look to Keith and Lance who both shrink under her gaze.

Shiro lets out another sigh and comms Coran. Only, when the line is opened, all they can hear are panicked noises and what sounds like explosions.

Keith jumps and Lance--who is still leaning on him even though Hunk is _right there_ \--gets this panicked look on her face, her hand tightening where it's wrapped around his arm.

“Coran?” she shouts along with a worried looking Allura.

“Coran, are you alright?” Lance continues. “Talk to us!”

_“Sorry, my dears.”_ A grunt. Then, _“I’m a bit preoccupied up here at the moment-a-roo. It seems the Galra managed to call in back-up.”_

“How bad is it?” Allura demands. When Coran doesn’t answer, she repeats herself, more frantic that time.

_“I’m fighting off a fleet, Princess.”_ He chuckles nervously but it’s cut off by a loud explosion in the background. Everyone tenses. _“Quiznak! I don’t think I’ll be able to help you reach your Lions. I’m doing all I can but-”_

_“Hello, Voltron!”_ A different voice suddenly overtakes the first. It’s more feminine and brash than Coran’s was and Keith knows instantly who it is. _“Your regularly scheduled idiot is busy at the moment, so I’ll be taking over saving your asses for now.”_

“Nyma?” Lance asks before Allura or Pidge can start yelling. Hunk scowls, the expression still strange on his normally smiling face. “How did you even get in the Bridge?”

_“Well,”_ the alien says conversationally, _“When the Castle started jolting randomly and we heard explosions, we figured it was a good idea to take a look. And it’s a good thing, too! You guys would’ve been_ fucked. _These are a mess of tunnels, no way you would’ve gotten out without directions.”_

Keith blinks. “You’re helping us?”

_“Duh,”_ Nyma says like she thinks he’s incredibly slow. Keith bristles at the tone. _“Considering we’re currently trapped on a Castle housing galra enemy number one and getting shot at?”_ an explosion punctuates her words, _“I think it’s in our best interests to help.”_

Keith looks around at everyone and Hunk and Allura don’t look happy at _all,_ but Pidge is focused on Lance who shrugs and then says, “Do we have any other choice?”

“Not really,” Pidge says. “It’s either this or get lost in the tunnels.”

The Balmera gives another violent shake and everyone looks to the ceiling nervously, watching it shudder.

Shiro stands tall, “Okay. Paladins, get to your Lions. Follow Nyma’s directions and take to the sky. We need to help Coran. Allura-”

“I’m staying here,” she interrupts. “There’s no way I’d make it to the Castle to help out, not with a fleet firing at them. I’ll help the balmerans here and get them somewhere safe.”

Keith looks back over towards the center, where there were still balmerans behind the barrier and more in the pocket above the ceiling he and Lance were in.

Nobody argues with her.

“I found Shay and her brother on my way here. They’re down that side tunnel.” Hunk points at a random opening as far as Keith’s concerned. “They’ll help you navigate. Keep them safe.” He pauses. “Please.”

Allura looks down at Hunk an amused twist to her lips when she agrees. Hunk slumps back, relieved, and Shiro takes his place.

Shiro grabs her shoulder which looks kind of weird because she is, like, a foot taller than him but whatever. Keith’s life has gotten plenty of weird lately. “Stay safe, Princess.”

Allura nods. “Of course. You as well, Paladin.”

_“As sweet as that was, if we could all start moving along, that’d be fantastic!”_

Allura’s expression sours. “I don’t trust you,” she says as if it’s news. Lance and Pidge roll their eyes.

_“You don’t need to trust me,”_ Nyma says and she somehow gives the impression that she’s rolling her eyes too. _“You just need to survive.”_

***

The sky looks like it's on fire.

Hundreds of ships flit around the Castle, now easily visible without the safety of the clouds. Laser blasts score through the air, slamming against the shimmering blue barrier around the Castle and lighting up the air with brilliantly colored explosions.

_“Did everyone make it to their Lions?”_ Shiro calls through the comms.

Lance laughs at him despite the cold fear leaching her veins at the sight of a galra fleet. She doesn’t think going against one will _ever_ stop being scary.

“Come on, Captain Crunch! Who do you think you’re dealing with? A bunch of amateurs?” Lance does a complicated flip maneuver to punctuate her sentence. She proudly grins to herself, eyes closed in her arrogance. She’s rewarded with Azura running into a galra mining rig, sending Lance tumbling from her seat with an undignified yelp.

Azura harrumphs in the back of her mind and Lance groans from her place on the floor in embarrassment. She can hear the others laughing at her.

_“Do you want me to answer that?”_  Shiro teases with poorly contain amusement.

Lance pouts, face burning pink. “No…”

“Everybody fan out. Clear the sky of as many drones as you can.”

“You got it!” “Right-o, Eagle One.” “Aye-aye!”

***

Flying between drones, while terrifying in a distant sort of way, was concerningly _easy_ for Lance. Sure, she’d been flying most of her life, and now she was basically mind-melded with Azura, but… it was different now. After the fight in the cave, where they were all working together… she felt _connected_ to her fellow Paladins.

She had a vague sense of them if she focused, like some sort of sixth sense piggybacking off her bonds with them. She could tell if Hunk was too far away or if Pidge needed help. She could predict Shiro’s shouted orders before he even said them while she wove around Keith like she had back in the mines.

It was going well all things considered. The five of them were terrifyingly efficient and put together.

The galra didn’t stand a _chance._

Or, she thought that all the way up until Nyma started swearing into the comms and the sun disappeared.

Lance froze where she was, her and Azura slowly looking up while her heart went heavy with dread. Above them was a galra battle cruiser, all menacing black and sickly purple.

_“It’s going to fire!”_ Nyma yells through the comms though she’s obviously shouting to Coran.

_“Diverting all shield to the bow!”_ Coran, voice distant and static-filled, shouts back.

Lance watches, wide-eyed as the biggest ion blast she’s seen slams into the Castle’s particle barrier. A strangled sound escapes her throat as she watches the Castle slowly move backward at the force of it.

_“We could use a little help!”_ Nyma snaps at them. _“Get this thing away from us or we’ll all be_ dead.”

That kicks Lance into gear, racing to her fellow paladins.

_“Alright, team, this is where it all comes together,”_ Shiro says confidently. _“We need to form Voltron.”_

“Right!” The four say in unison.

Then, Hunk’s nervous tenor speaks up. _“How, exactly, are we meant to do that though? There’s no ‘combine into giant robot warrior’ button_ anywhere _on my dashboard.”_

_“Allura says it’s about intent, right?”_ Pidge speaks up, drawing from their lessons early on in their stay at the Castle. _“We need to be of focused mind.”_

“Well, easy for you to say!” Lance quips. “You aren’t the one with ADHD!”

_“Guys!”_ Nyma yells again.

_“Everyone! In formation!”_ Shiro commands, all of them lining up and speeding towards the warship. _“Think about Voltron. Think about each other. Grab on to your bonds and_ focus. _”_

Lance closes her eyes, following his instructions and leaving the flying to Azura.

Her mind’s eye flashes to the image of Voltron from the cave on earth, of the powerful warrior sent to protect the universe. She lets the image take over everything, lets it consume her mind and become all she thinks about, all she _is._ She lets it rise in her chest, a vague feeling that threatens to burst from her and causes her bonds to flair higher than they ever had before.

She grabs Hunk’s first, his the brightest and loudest and easiest. As much a part of her as her hair or her laugh.

She pulls on Pidge’s, green with life and curiosity and sass. A growing thing that buries itself deep in her sternum, latching on and refusing to let go, vibrating with so much energy it hums with it.

Shiro’s, who’s is soft and wispy but reliable. Shiro’s, who whips through her like the wind before a storm, comforting and present. Still unknown, but with that promise of things soon to come.

When she reaches for the last thread in her chest, she doesn’t hesitate.

Perhaps she should’ve.

She grabs onto the final thread, calls upon the dragon sleeping around her heart, and when she touches it, she _burns._ It latches onto her and eats through her very being like acid. Consumes her like a hungry inferno for even _thinking_ she could command it, for thinking she had any right to the power housed in her own heart. It melts through her, down to her very core and Lance _screams._

Distantly, she can hear Keith screaming too.

The thread between them rattles, shaking and violently rejecting itself. It fights and burns and _screams_ just as loud as they do. It is not happy--it can’t be. It’s two halves of a whole that _don’t match_ and it wants them to feel the pain it’s in. Wants them to know their _mistakes._

It’s Chaotic.

Broken.

_Feral._

Lance drops the thread and with it, the spell unravels.

Smoke pours from her burned lungs and Lance’s eyes _sting_ with the heat of it. She feels brittle and hot to the touch.

Azura worms her way to the front of her mind, a blatant sort of worry strumming along their bond. She soothes the ache of the failed connection, sweeps across the burned skin like a cool rain and Lance sighs in relief.

_“What the hell was that?”_ Pidge demands, her voice shaking. _“What was with you and Keith?”_

Lance gulps in air. “I- I don’t know. Please don’t make me do that again,” she begs through her smoke roughed throat. She thinks she hears Keith mumble his agreement.

Hunk’s face pops up on her dashboard, his face pressed close to the screen. He looks distraught and Lance feels _horrible._ Not five minutes ago he’d been upset about the whole cave fight and now she’s doing again.

She’s such a bad friend.

_“Are you even_ okay? _What was that?”_

Shiro speaks, and his voice seems thoughtful and hard with something she can’t read. _“I don’t think Keith and Lance are able to form Voltron.”_

Shame burns through her. Despite her having her Lion the longest, despite her being the friendliest, the easiest to get along with, she can’t contribute when her team needs it most.

It’s a sour taste in her mouth and Lance wants to vomit.

_“Oh, my Goddess!”_ Nyma snaps through the comms, cutting off the apology that was on the tip of Lance’s tongue. _“Twenty thrusters are better than two! You don’t_ need _quiznacking Voltron! Just get that damn thing away from us!”_

It’s silent over the comms for half a second and then she thinks she hears Shiro clear his throat self-consciously. _“Ah, well you heard the lady. Form up, team. All power to knocking that canon off course.”_

All the paladins answer obediently if less enthusiastically than before. Such a fresh failure is not easily forgotten and they are all on edge now, their confidence and arrogance re-checked. They are reminded that they are not undefeatable.

Lance knows it’s not a true loss--they have yet to truly lose a fight in this war--but knowing that does nothing to wipe away the feeling of defeat that lingers at the edge of her mind.

Still, she bites back the sour taste of defeat she’s growing so accustomed to and charges the cruiser with her fellow paladins. Their Lions jump to full speed and ram straight into the underside of the large ship. The force of their initial hit causes the cruiser to tilt upward, but not by enough.

Azura strains against the force of it, and Lance grits her teeth, lending as much of her strength to her Lion as she can. She’s not sure why or how she knows she can do this, but she does. She pours herself into Azura and receives an answering roar that echoes around the cockpit, ringing in her ears and spreading lightning down her spine.

Four echoes filter through her comms and slowly, _so slowly_ , the cruiser tilts. They struggle and push and eventually, the cruiser is tilted far enough that it’s vulnerable. Beached on its back like a helpless turtle.

Coran shouts a warning and not a second after they vacate the space does a laser blast slice through the air, blinding Lance with the brilliance of it as it fills the cockpit. If Lance had been outside of her Lion, she would’ve felt the scorching heat of the shockwave following the blast.

As it is, she watches safely through her Lion’s eyes as the cruiser explodes in a shower of debris and fiery vengeance. The flames consume all the drones around it, hungrily gulping down anything it can reach.

Azura prances farther out of reach while Lance shouts her victory along with her fellow paladins and those onboard the Castle.

She’s starting to learn that blowing up the galra is quite cathartic.

She’s starting to relax once more, her scrapes and wounds catching up with her now that the adrenaline is wearing off. A large breath of air escapes her as she slumps back against her seat. She’s _tired._

Normally, she isn’t tired until she leaves her Lion.

Nevertheless, she’s happy and relaxed now that the threat of the galra has been taken care of. For now, at least.

She can hear Pidge’s laughter and Keith’s snark and Shiro saying, _“Good job team!”_ and Lance feels a little lighter.

Something golden glints in the corner of her eyes and Lance spins Azura, a smile tugging at her lips and a celebration on her tongue. But when she turns, she finds her heart stopping in her chest instead.

As if in slow motion, Lance watches as Keone starts falling from the sky.

It’s then, that Lance realizes, Hunk had been _completely silent._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A lot of action this chapter! Hope it wasn't too clunky or anything! sorry for the minor cliffhanger but it had to be done. don't worry though! I won't leave you guys guessing for long, (though you can probably guess what's up with Hunk based on previous chapters)
> 
> Oh man! this chapter was really just a set-up for the next one so if you think not a lot of stuff happened, don't worry. Next chapter there will be so many things! Also, I changed the title of chapter five. it (obviously) doesn't change anything in the story, but I think it's a much better title now.
> 
> what are other crazy things you think Pidge would make(in the heat of battle or just for fun)? how much stress can Hunk take before he(or Lance) snaps?


	13. Stand Back! I'm Doing Alchemy!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hunk's a bit of a badass and Lance takes up the job of worrying for _his_ idiotic ass for once

She panics. Because of course, she does.

Her best friend is falling from the sky and he’s not _saying_ anything, and Lance is terrified and Hunk was right. They’re both going to die of heart attacks at twenty-seven and they have no one to blame but _themselves and-_

She’s swooping down before he can get any farther, trying to steady him or balance or do _anything_ to make sure he doesn’t crash.

The comms are a mess now of yelling and worry but Lance is focused on trying to keep Hunk in the sky. Azura ducks her head under Keone’s chest, hoping that maybe they can gently lower them both but Keone’s bigger than they are. Heavier.

They slow down, but not enough.

Lance watches as the ground rushes up towards them through Azura’s eyes and braces herself as much as she can for the impact. Her eyes close on instinct as she waits for the jarring of a crash and the phantom pain she’ll no doubt feel through Azura.

But it never comes.

Lance’s eyes pop open and right next to her she can see gleaming red metal.

Keith was the fastest and the only one who made it in time to help. She breathes a sigh of relief and the trio float towards the ground, gently setting Keone on the surface.

The Lion’s eyes are still dimmed and despite Azura’s nudging, she doesn’t respond. Doesn’t even move.

Lance bolts from her seat and runs to the exit, jumping from Azura’s maw even before she’s properly settled her head against the ground for her. She stumbles on the landing because _god_ is she tired, but quickly rightens herself.

She’s about to start pounding on Keone’s muzzle when it flies open, Hunk dashing out and practically falling on top of her. She grunts under his weight, the enhancements within the paladin suit the only thing keeping them both upright.

“Hunk! _¿¡Pero qué coño!? ¿Por qué no respondiste?”_ she shouts.

“The Balmera!” Hunk gasps as Lance lowers them to the ground as softly as she can. “It’s dying.”

As if to punctuate his words, the planet beneath them gives a violent shudder. If the two had still been standing, they wouldn’t be anymore. Hunk curls over, as if in pain himself and Lance’s worry skyrockets.

“What do you mean? Babe, _talk to me.”_

“Energy. Used too much-” he forces out between his teeth, “terraforming. Keone trying to help.” He hisses between his teeth and the hands Lance has curled around his face tighten unconsciously. _“Not working.”_

Lance remembers what Hunk told her from his first trip to the Balmera. Of how Keone fell from the sky after she gave too much energy to the Balmera. And now it happened again but this time Hunk is in _pain_ and the pieces click together.

“It’s taking energy from you too,” she says and she feels _sick_. Hunk can’t support an entire _planet_. But the planet doesn’t seem to care. Or maybe it can’t. Dying can do that to someone she supposes. “It’s _hurting_ you. How do I help? How do I get it to stop?” she asks but Hunk doesn’t answer. Lance growls.

The others have landed their Lions and are already running over. Lance raises her hand to her helmet and yells, “Coran! Get down here now, we need to get Hunk and Keone off this planet.”

It takes a second for him to respond. _“What? What do you mean, my dear? What’s happening?”_

“The Balmera it’s- it’s hurting him or something. I don’t know. But we have to get him away!”

“No!” Hunk says leaning into her far too heavily for her piece of mind. “The balmerans need help. Have to get them off.”

“Hunk you’re _hurt,”_ she says as if he doesn’t know--which he might not. Their relationship is built on self-sacrificial bullshit after all.

God, they're going to give each other gray hair at twenty-five and it will be ridiculous because the only person who can pull that off with any level of success is Shiro. Well, Shiro and Allura, but Allura is a magical space princess and doesn’t count because she’s obviously cheating.

“Not hurt. Tired.”

Well, that’s a lie. What kind of exhaustion causes that? Exactly zero kinds, that's what.

God, she’s going to hit him.

“Lance that’s rude,” he says into her shoulder and she might’ve said that out loud. Whatever. She’s right anyway and he’d deserve it.

“Is it still taking from you?” she asks because if it is, it doesn’t matter what he wants, she’s getting him off of this planet immediately.

“No. It stopped as soon as it knew what was happening. Didn’t mean to take-” Hunk yawns jaw-crackingly large and Lance rolls her eyes at him, but her shoulders relax just a fraction at the jarring normality of it. “so much.”

“Yeah, well…” Lance grumbles, “We still need the ship.” She turns to look at Shiro who’s staring at them with something strange in his eyes. She makes a mental note to question that later but for now she’d be happier if he started _moving_. This fight isn’t over yet and they still need a leader. “Where’s Allura? If the Balmera’s dying, we need to get the balmerans out of here _now.”_

Shiro straightens--like that’s possible, he has the best posture of anyone she’s ever _met_. Including Francisca--and turns to start giving everyone orders. Distantly, she can hear him having a conversation with Allura about something, but she’s more focused on Hunk.

He’s practically falling asleep in her arms but making a valiant effort not to.

“What I wouldn’t give for a five-hour energy right now,” he mumbles into her shoulder and Lance laughs despite herself.

Pidge plops herself down to Lance’s right and grabs Hunk’s gauntlet with a single-minded focus. Hunk grumbles at the manhandling but doesn’t resist.

Lance doesn’t think he would have been able to even if he wanted.

“It looks like your blood sugar is low but not dangerously,” Pidge informs them. “Which, I suppose makes sense considering you said it took your energy?” Pidge nods without looking at Hunk, apparently already deciding she was right. It makes Lance smile fondly.

Pidge reaches into a pouch at her hip and pulls out a _granola bar_ of all things, shoving into Hunk’s face. “Eat.”

Lance blinks at the food while Hunk just reaches for it and does as she says.

“Where the hell did you get a _granola bar?”_

Pidge shrugs. “It was in my backpack when we left. I always carry snacks.”

“And you didn’t think to share when we were going through the whole food goo debacle?”

Pidge snorts. “Of course not. Would you have shared?” Lance opens her mouth to say _‘yes, I’m not an asshat’_ but then realizes that hoarding food is exactly what she would’ve done and closes it. Pidge grins like she knows what Lance is thinking.

She probably does. She’s creepy like that.

“Besides, it’s not like I’ve been eating them all. They’re for emergencies. Like _now_.” She waves a hand at Hunk who’s polishing off his granola bar and actually looking a bit better now that he’s eaten.

He notices them staring and grins. “Do you have any more of those?”

Lance shakes her head in amusement as Pidge explains why she will _not_ be giving him anymore because as far as she’s concerned his stomach is a black hole. Which, she isn’t wrong.

It’s then that Lance notices Shiro’s pinched face and she turns to look at him as he walks over, the Castle landing in the background and making her hair whip around like crazy.

“What’s wrong?” she asks before he even gets the chance to speak.

“Good news is that Allura found Shay’s family and they are all heading over this way right now.” Hunk’s hand flies to the lifesaver like stone hanging around his neck.

Her eyes narrow at the action and she makes a note to question him more about it later. He won’t tell her what it is or where he got it, which makes it very suspicious in her book. Hunk only does that with embarrassing things.

“Bad news is, none of them want to leave.” Hunk freezes in place. “Allura’s trying to talk sense into them, but Shay’s spoken to the other balmerans. They all want to stay until the end.”

“But they’ll _die,”_ Hunk cries and it’s like the sound was torn from his throat. Something flashes across his face and then he’s pulling away from her arms and standing up, unsteady on his feet but stubborn. Lance scrambles up after him. “I need to talk to them myself.”

“What? No!” she protests, grabbing his arm. “Hunk you could barely stay awake a minute ago.”

“And now I’m fine.”

Lance scowls up at him, irritation bubbling in her gut. “Stop being cute. That’s my job.”

“I wouldn’t _dream_ of stealing your thunder, songbird.” That! That right there makes Lance all the more anxious.

Lance speaks more in nicknames and jokes than she does actual names. But Hunk? Hunk, of course, has nicknames for her but he _never_ says them unless it’s just the two of them. It makes him embarrassed or something. Despite his inability to _not_ invade everyone’s privacy, he keeps a lot of things close to his chest. His pet names for her being one of those things.

He’s more tired than he wants her to know and Lance doesn’t like that one bit.

“At least let me come with you,” she says but Hunk is already shaking his head.

“I need to do this myself. I just… I have to.” His eyes search hers for understanding and he obviously finds it even if she hates that he does. She knows the feeling and thoughts racing through his head even without the flickering echoes traveling down the bond.

“You realize you can’t yell at me for being reckless and stupid now because you are about to do the same thing, right?”

“This is hardly the same situation,” he argues. “But even so, I’m sure you’ll do something else dumb enough for me to get angry over soon enough.”

Lance puffs up her cheeks in protest but deflates quickly. The ground under them rumbles again and Lance is reminded about how little time they have. She doesn’t have the luxury to be mad at him.

She stands on her tip-toes and kisses his cheek. _“E mālama pono,”_ she demands. _Be careful._

Hunk nods, kissing her cheek before jogging to the closest open mineshaft. Lance watches him go for a second before turning to find Pidge, Shiro, and Keith staring at her.

“What?” she asks confused.

Pidge rolls her eyes. “You two are disgustingly domestic.”

Lance blinks.

She doesn’t see how that’s a bad thing. She loves Hunk and he loves her. They’re comfortable around each other.

Lance ruffles the younger girl’s hair for lack of anything else to do. Pidge will get her own Hunk someday and then she’ll understand. For now, she grins and guides the two of them over to Coran.

***

Luckily, Allura and Shay’s family aren’t that far away. He doesn’t think he could’ve made it to the other side of the planet just to find them (because again. It’s still a _big place)._

He’s also lucky he doesn’t run into any galra sentries (there still has to be _some_ running around. He’s just glad there’s none _here)._

But it seems that has more to do with Allura leading the balmerans to him rather than any effort he made to reach them. The second Allura sees his face her shoulders droop.

“By the Grace of the Divine! Maybe you can get them to listen!”

Shay’s eyes light up when they see him and he feels similarly. They break away from their family to run up to him, grabbing him by the shoulders and yeah, Shay’s really warm even through the suit. Weird.

He’s blaming their warmness on why his face is starting to heat up if anyone asks.

“You are okay! This is wonderful news!” they say, a wide smile on their face.

“Course I’m okay,” he assures even though the world around him is worryingly blurry and he wants nothing more than to nap for a week. But that was also him the entire week before finals last year, so he’s not too concerned about it. “I still had to make good on my promise of saving you guys, didn’t I?”

Shay’s face falls almost instantly and they look back over their shoulder at their family. “I am sorry,” they start, voice low and upset. “It seems your effort has gone to waste. There will be no heroics on this day.”

Hunk thinks there have already been _plenty_ of heroics on this day, but he digresses. That’s not what’s important right now anyway.

“What are you talking about? I promised to save you and I will,” he says forcefully. “Just because the Balmera is dying doesn’t mean you have to die with it!”

Shay closes their eyes. “All balmerans thank you for your kindness but we cannot accept it on this occasion. The Balmera’s life cycle is ending because of us. It is our wish to stay.”

“Wha-? It wasn’t your fault!” he insists, looking imploringly at their family behind them. None of them will meet his eyes. “The galra are gone. You guys are _free_ now.”

“Then we shall die knowing freedom,” Rax says, something in his voice shaking and it breaks Hunk.

Maybe he’s too tired or maybe he’s done with the people around him being in danger or maybe it’s the green light of the Touchstone over his heart, but Hunk is _done._ He is not doing this.

“No!” he shouts loud enough that it echoes around him, reverberating off the walls like there are multiple of him speaking. He doesn’t notice, but the ground beneath him starts glowing a faint blue, the way it had when it followed him around the tunnels. When he spoke to the Balmera and it spoke back.

“No, I refuse to give up on you! I refuse to let anyone else around me get hurt when I could _do_ something. Your home may be dying but you have a chance to _live._ To carry on the stories and the hope of your planet and you’re just going to, what? Throw that away? I’ve spoken to the Balmera and you are Her _children._ No parent wants their child to die for them. They want them to _live_ for them. To grow and be happy and move on. Honor Her death and _survive._ Honor Her death and _remember_. You can’t _do that_ if you die here.”

When he finishes, he’s breathing heavily and everyone is staring at him. He feels like he should be embarrassed about that but he can’t find the motivation for it.

He’s upset and tired and he’s not sorry he said it, but he is surprised he got all those words past his tongue without stumbling over himself. Words are Lance’s thing, but it seems like she’s rubbed off on him more than they both realized.

Suddenly, Mal breaks away from the stricken group of balmerans and reaches for his hands. It’s then that he notices they’re glowing. He should probably be more concerned about that but again: motivation.

“The Balmera has carried your words, Guardian. We balmerans hear them and know they come from the heart. With them, you have touched ours.”

“Oh, uh… good. Right.” Fantastic. He’s back to being awkward again. “Does this mean you’ll come with us?” His eyes sweep over the group of balmerans in front of him, but they catch and stay on Shay. They’re staring at him with something close to awe and it’s really not doing any favors for his awkwardness right now.

Mal grins in front of him, something sharp and knowing in the glow of their eyes. “It is as you said, Guardian. We shall honor Her death and _survive.”_

“Good. Uh,” his gaze flicks to Allura who’s staring at him, something contemplative in her eyes. He must start looking panicked because she points to the ceiling with emphasis. “Oh! All balmerans, quickly head to the surface.”

Once he finishes, the glowing around him stops.

Which is good! He was scared he was going to have to make a fool of himself and ask how to turn it off. Which would have been bad. Especially since they had all just seen him be really cool apparently.

Mal’s eyes fall to the Touchstone still hanging around his neck. It’s much more noticeable now that he’s not glowing everywhere. The way they’re looking at it makes him want to squirm but they’re still holding his hands. It looks like the rest of Shay’s family has also started to notice and Amel stoops to whisper something in their daughter’s ear.

Shay jumps and crosses their arms, sending their mother a dirty look to which Amel just laughs.

Okay, now Hunk is _really_ curious. What’s up with the stone? What does everyone know that he doesn’t?

He hopes it’s not embarrassing, but with his luck, it probably is. He hopes Lance doesn’t find out what it is before he does but that seems unlikely. Lance is better at information gathering than he is.

***

Their little group makes it up to the surface without any problems.

They are the only group who does.

The second their feet touch the surface, the Balmera shudders even more violently than before and it throws all of them to their knees. Hunk watches as rocks crumble and destroy entire pathways within the mineshafts. Hundreds of pounds of rock fall and tumble down into the dark below and trap the remaining balmerans just below the surface.

This mine shaft is useless, and even if the balmerans could come up through another one, there isn’t enough time for them to get there.

Hunk panics. The Balmera was stable enough before, what had happened? What went _wrong?_

Then he remembers the cave and quintessence so thick in the air he could barely _breathe._ He told all balmerans to move. No one is supporting the Balmera anymore and she’s failing faster than ever without that little boost.

God! He feels so _stupid._

Next to him, Shay cries out in despair, “No! We are lost!”

_No._ No! He’s not giving up that easily. Just think. Think! What can they do? They could try supporting it again, having all the balmerans on the planet working together.

But that will only take them so far and it won’t last long, if it even works.

He searches around for anything that might help, grasping at straws when he sees the Castle and his fellow paladins clustered around the base. They seem to be talking about something in hushed whispers but that isn’t what _really_ catches his attention.

Underneath the Castle, there is a brilliant patch of glowing earth. Just looking at it makes Hunk feel refreshed and energetic, like the way he had in the cave surrounded by balmerans.

“Guys!” he grabs the attention of the others, already stepping towards the Castle and the thriving patch of earth. The others turn and their attentions are caught as well. “Look!”

“The Balmera!” Amel gasps, rushing forward along with the other balmerans to place their hands on the ground there. “It- it is healed! But how?”

Coran hums off to the side, examining a piece of rock held between his thumb and forefinger. “Well, the running theory is that the Castle’s balmeran crystal is using the Castle as an uncontrolled alchemic circle of sorts to heal this patch of ground.” Coran lowers the rock and his magnifying glass to stare at the ground itself, something sad in his eyes. “The altean life force soaked into the bones of the Castle is helping the reaction along, but it won’t keep it up for much longer.”

The balmerans stare at the ground, completely captivated with running their hands over the glowing dirt and rocks of their home planet.

Hunk looks to Allura. She’s altean and an alien and super advanced and also the one who is most in charge by default of being a princess. Maybe she has an idea or something.

But when he looks at her, all he can see is her sadness and frustration.

He looks back down, clenching his teeth. He can sympathize.

Then, he notices that where the balmerans are sitting, the glow has been pulled out farther, as if reaching for the balmerans themselves. He suddenly remembers his idea from earlier about the whole planet being behind one of those revitalization ceremonies.

He’s not entirely sure how altean alchemy works, but if he’s understanding Coran--which is a big if sometimes. Coran is a very confusing guy--the altean energy in the Castle and the Castle’s size is making the reaction bigger. Like an amplifier.

“What if we saved the whole planet?” Hunk blurts out before he can think of any coherent way to explain the thoughts swimming and flying around his mind.

Keith looks at him like he’s grown a second head. “Uh… that was kind of the whole point of coming here? And it’s currently failing so…”

Hunk shakes his head. “No. No, I mean, like, the _whole_ planet.” He waves his arms wildly in circles as if to convey his point. “Like what the Castle is doing right here but on a bigger scale. Is that possible with the… alchemy?”

Coran looks dubious and mildly worried but Allura looks excited and like Keith does when he’s about to do something reckless against the Training Gladiator. It is not a look that fills Hunk with confidence.

“Hunk, that’s a fantastic idea!” Allura hops up and down on the balls of her feet and wow, Hunk thinks this is the first time he’s ever seen her this animated. It’s kind of weird. “We can perform the ceremony and heal the whole planet using the Castle as an amplifier!”

“Ceremony?” Colril asks. “What ceremony do you speak of?”

“In the days of old, when alteans were given the gift of Crystals from a Balmera, we would repay its sacrifice by performing a ceremony. A Sacred Altean would re-infuse the Balmera with quintessence in thanks for its gift.”

“You mean the Sharing of Breath?” Shay asks, eyes wide.

Coran blinks. “Uh, yes. I do believe that is what it was called.” He turns back to Allura, something like pleading in his eyes. “Even if it _could_ work-”

“It will, Coran. Have faith,” Allura tries reassuring.

“If it _did,_ ” he continues like he hadn’t been interrupted. “To revitalize an entire planet could take more energy than you possess! Even with the Castle helping you, Allura you could…” Coran swallows thickly and Hunk doesn’t like where this is going. He _knows_ that look. “not make it through this.”

Allura softens at the fear written in every line of Coran’s body. She steps forward to take his hand in her own, squeezing lightly as if the touch alone can reassure him she’ll be fine.

“I must try anyway. I cannot value my life over that of a hundred thousand others.”

Coran breathes deeply like he wants to argue that but knows he’ll lose. “I know,” he finally says, though he sounds less than pleased about it.

Hunk waffles for half a second before stepping forward towards the pair, back straight and shoulders back like Lance is always telling him how to stand. “I’ll help.”

“What!?” comes the screeching cry of his best friend. She marches up to him and jabs him in the chest. Hard. “I think the fuck not! You’ve already given enough energy or quintessence or _whatever._ No. No! Absolutely _not.”_

_“Lance,”_ he tries.

“No! You can’t yell at me for being dumb and then immediately go and do a worse thing! This is hypocrisy. You’re always yelling about me being a hypocrite! You can’t _do_ this.” She crosses her arms and glares up at him. “I forbid it.”

“Well that’s not really your choice to make now is it?” he says and it’s only after he’s said it that he thinks his voice may have been sharper than he originally intended.

It apparently doesn’t matter to Lance who responds right back, not batting an eye. She always did have thick skin. “Did you not hear Coran? You could die!”

“If I can help, I have a responsibility to,” Hunk says and that stops Lance right in her tracks just like he knew it would. Maybe it’s an underhanded tactic, but if it works then it works. Besides, Lance understands why he’s doing this. He _knows_ that if it was her in his place, she wouldn’t even hesitate.

The only thing holding him back is her fear and they don’t have the luxury for that right now. The Balmera is still shaking apart beneath them, the low-level tremors growing with every passing minute and if they don’t do something soon it will be too late.

He steps around her and faces Allura and Coran again. “I’ll help,” he repeats and this time no one argues but he can see Lance scowling. “I know how the energy moves from me to the Balmera. I can help guide it.”

Hunk isn’t really sure _how_ he’s going to do that, but he wasn’t lying. He knows how the transfer of quintessence feels. He’ll figure out the rest of it along the way.

Allura smiles at him appreciatively while Coran just looks even more worried. Oops. He’d been hoping to make both of them feel better.

Well, one out of two isn’t bad.

Allura squares her shoulders and steps onto the circle of healed earth, the balmerans fanned out around the edges with their hands firmly pressed to the ground, determination set on their faces. Hunk kneels along the outside with the balmerans and presses his hands into the dirt, digging his fingers beneath the layers as if that will help him.

He waits for Allura to do whatever it is she’s going to, looking up at her expectantly like everyone else when she raises her arms and tilts her face upwards.

He can feel something in the air shift, a swelling of energy just below the surface. But before it can break through, it shatters with the thunderous sound of _roaring._

Hunk rips his hands from the dirt and everyone around him jumps.

He whips around to stare at Keone who’s no longer passed out or in stasis or whatever it is she does and is instead glaring at them like they personally offended her.

_“What do you think you cubs are doing?”_ she hisses between her teeth, tail flicking behind her in agitation and worry.

“Keone?” he questions. The ground beneath him shakes and they don’t have _time_ for this. “Keone we have to do this. We need to save Her.”

_“You will save no one with this foolishness,”_ she scolds and if it were any other time Hunk might’ve caved right then and there but they don’t have another _choice._ He’s about to tell her that when she steamrolls over him. _“There isn’t even a Circle drawn! What does the altean kit think she is doing?”_

Hunk blinks and turns to Allura. She looks pale and confused and perhaps a little angry.

“What is she saying?”

“She’s asking why there isn’t a Circle drawn?”

Allura’s mouth twists into a frown as she stares at the Lions before them. “I don’t need one.”

The growl Keone lets out is enough to shake the ground beneath them. Or maybe that was the Balmera again. They really _are_ running out of time.

_“Your arrogance will destroy you if you do not temper it soon, little kit.”_

Hunk really does not want to translate that and get punched in the face by a seven-foot-tall alien princess. Luckily for him, Allura seems to get the message without his interference.

“My father had not needed a physical Circle. I can do it too,” she says stubbornly. “I’ll be just as good as he was.”

Keone makes some sort of harrumphing sound. _“Your father was an Alchemical Master with a century of experience under his belt. Even_ he _had needed a physical Circle in the beginning.”_

This is kind of weird for Hunk. Hearing her talk about people who lived thousands of years ago like she was there. Which, he supposed she was but that doesn’t make it less weird from his end.

He translates that because it seems safe enough and Allura stops looking deeply offended but the stubborn twist to her mouth has yet to go away when he finishes speaking.

Keone sighs, her frame slumping like the weight of all her years are settling across her back. _“It is okay to start out not being the best,”_ she says softly, something warm and familiar in her voice like this isn’t the first time she’s had to say these words. _“It means you can grow and learn. It means you can become_ more. _I can see you will grow into a powerful Alchemist spoken of throughout history. But for now, you need help and that is okay. There is no shame in needing support from those around you. In fact, it takes the truest of strengths to rely on your loved ones.”_

Hunk relays that and Allura’s shoulders slump completely, mirroring Keone. She takes in a deep breath and breathes it out in one loud gust. “I understand, Your Divinity. Your wisdom is most appreciated, and I am thankful for your counsel.”

His Lion hums with pleasure, head tilting at Allura with respect. _“There is no need for such formalities, young kit. But I am glad you have seen reason. Only the foolish refuse help when it is needed, and you are far from foolish.”_

Hunk relays the first bit but leaves out the part where she almost calls the Princess foolish. He still doesn’t want to get punched and he also doesn’t want to test her patience. She’s agreed and he’d rather not mess it up _now._

Quickly, Keone walks them through the technical bits of alchemical circles--which is concerning. Allura had been about to try and do all of this _in her head_ and she barely knows the basics? What the _hell--_ and Hunk finds himself actually being interested in how alchemy works.

He knows it’s closer to magic than science, but it has a distinctly grounded feel to it that soothes him in a way the free-flowing energy the balmerans use didn’t. Whenever they get the chance, he’s going to pick Coran and Allura’s brains for everything about it.

For now, though, they have a roughly drawn array that’s almost as big as the base of the castle. A five-pointed star within a pentagon within a circle make up their base, with all the paladins standing at different vertices and the balmerans filling all the spaces in between them. The five of them are being used as ‘grounding points’ along with various carefully placed half circles and lines and triangles painstakingly drawn into the dirt array at specific points in the array.

Keone hadn’t explained what they do or why they’re there or how they matter, and Hunk _knows_ they’re on a time crunch, but the questions are burning the tip of his tongue and he is _itching_ to learn more about it.

After a minute or so, when everyone is in their place and knows what they’re supposed to be doing, more or less, Allura steps into her place at the center, careful not to disturb any of the lines drawn into the dirt and begins once again.

Despite her insistence that she could do all the alchemy and equations in her head, she looks much more relaxed standing in the center of the Circle ready to gather and push the reaction forward instead of trying to control it all by herself.

Her arms rise at her sides and this time, when the energy fills the air until it’s almost stifling, choking them all with the pressure and deafening with its buzzing through the air. Then, with little warning, the array comes to life, sparking along the drawn lines and lighting everything but the ones connecting the paladins together in a vibrant blue.

Hunk thinks Keone had said as the grounding they had to connect not just to the circle but to each other, so that’s why they take just half a second longer.

For a heart-stopping moment, the line between Keith and Lance fills with a crackling pressure and heat and Hunk is scared that it will shatter apart like it had when they tried to form Voltron. But then Lance takes a deep breath and the line settles into place grudgingly. It flickers with defiance but holds and the final pieces glow a bright shimmering silver.

It’s as good as they’ll get, he supposes.

Hunk’s not exactly sure what Allura’s doing in the middle, but he can feel the energy gathering in the array like it’s some sort of oversized dreamcatcher. He and the other paladins keep the whole thing stable, holding down the wispy edges of shimmering energy and making sure they don’t escape but it’s a lot of energy. He doesn’t know how long they can hold it there.

It only when they’ve gathered enough that the entire array is threatening to burst and the air is filled with a sweltering sort of heat, does Hunk finally move.

Like the snapping of a rubber band, the dam holding it all together breaks, and Hunk pushes the flow of it through the carefully drawn lines and into the heart of the Balmera buried deep beneath the surface.

He’s intimately familiar with the way energy moves from one object to another now, whether he wanted to or not, so all he has to do is guide it back through familiar channels already paved for him, no forging his own necessary.

When it’s all said and done, it’s probably only been a minute or so from the start of the reaction to now. But from Hunk’s point of view, it may as well have been an hour.

Despite not giving any quintessence himself, he feels even more tired than before (he’ll learn later that he used up something the alteans call Alchemical Energy in order to guide the reaction safely). He’s woozy and it’s a good thing he’s on his hands and knees because if he wasn’t already, he’d definitely be on them now.

It takes him a second to blink the spots away from his vision enough that he can actually see what’s in front of his eyes. And when he does, he wants to laugh with joy.

Spreading across the ground like a wave is glowing blue energy, lighting up the Balmera from within and causing crystals to pop from the ground like daisies. Hundreds of thousands of shimmering blue daisies that prove they _did it._ It _worked_.

Allura has crumpled in the center of the circle and Hunk has maybe a second to be worried about that before he, inevitably, follows her into unconsciousness. Tumbling head over heels into the sweet darkness of exhaustion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I've just realized I've had Hunk's fate be up in the air as a cliffhanger for two chapters in a row and I am so sorry. I assure you he's fine just tired. I confirm that in, like, the starting sentence of the next chapter. I just needed to cut off the chapter here for pacing reasons. please don't kill me!
> 
> on a lighter note, shout out to munchin_munchkin for calling the Hunk alchemy scene way back in chapter 7 like,,, talk about prophetic vision.
> 
> also, I wanted to clear up that, no, there isn't a robeast for the paladins to fight because Zarkon didn't have the foresight to send it after them. In OG, it was heavily implied that Rolo and Nyma tipped off the galra about Voltron heading to the Balmera in exchange for their lives or whatever. Since BoS Rolo and Nyma were picked up by the crew, they didn't have too and the galra were caught mostly unawares by the paladins. hence, the hastily cobbled together ambush in the heart rather than a trap, and also hence no robeast. I kept the fleet because drama but also it seemed like the fleet was nearby anyway without the not so anonymous tip.
> 
> hope that answers any questions about why I did what I did!
> 
> TRANSLATION:  
> "What the hell? Why didn't you respond?" -Lance, Spanish  
> "Be careful/take care." -Lance, Hawaiian


	14. (oh, why you gotta be so) Talkative

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance talks.... a lot. It's kind of her thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry, I accidentally dropped off the face of the earth. I've been busy uprooting my life so that's fun! I hope this kind of makes up for the unusually long wait between chapters.
> 
> also, thank all of you who commented last chapter! I was having a lot of writer's block and your kind words really helped me get the motivation I needed to complete the chapter. thank you all so much and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> also, [here](https://lady-literature.tumblr.com/post/186962920601/the-official-evolved-armours-for-born-of-the) is the completely evolved armours for our favorite paladins. and [here](https://lady-literature.tumblr.com/post/186495643651/can-you-draw-shiro-keith-pidge-hunk-and-lance) is some other art I've drawn of them back at the Garrison.

The aftermath of the Balmera saving alchemy circle is, in a word, _busy_.

They confirm Allura and Hunk haven’t just _died_ trying to save the planet, and so Coran, with the help of Shay and her family, takes them both back up into the Castle.

Lance wants to go up too and keep an eye on Hunk, but Shiro drags her off to help sweep the planet of any remaining Galra drones or soldiers. If the light show and fast-growing crystals swallowing anything even vaguely galran mean anything, Lance thinks the entire thing is a lesson in futility.

But she follows him anyway. The cord stringing her to him pulling her to obey. Not forcing her to, but rather leading her down that path, like it knew she would eventually and just pushed her to do it faster.

She complains almost the entire time, but dutifully looks and makes sure there’s nothing else to endanger the balmerans.

By the time they finish with it all (having found precisely nothing like Lance had helpfully pointed out in the beginning) she is tired and ready to fall over.

Despite that, when she sees the crowd of balmerans gathered at the base of the Castle--no doubt curious at and filled with the newfound energy given by Allura--Lance swoops down and settles Azura along the outskirts of the group.

Her fellow paladins follow behind her reluctantly, no doubt untrusting of her ability to behave herself. An assumption Lance digresses.

This is the first planet they’ve saved and also the home to people Hunk cares about!

She’s not going to go out of her way to make trouble. Especially, not when she’s so tired.

She wants to talk with them, and if that involves soaking in praise too, well. That is a happy coincidence as far as Lance is concerned.

She does end up speaking with the adults, most of whom thank her and ask after Hunk (who is more popular than the rest of them by virtue of his Lion, she guesses) but she really spends most of her time with the kids and children.

The other three paladins are horrible with them, so Lance has to pick up the slack. She plays chase and other games to tire them out, talks and tells stories of Earth, and lets the more adventurous ones climb all over her like a jungle gym.

She has fun, even though she’s ready to fall over in exhaustion. Even going through The Work-Out From Hell, courtesy of a certain gorgeous space princess, isn’t enough to extend her stamina this much. But something about being around little kids and their boundless energy makes her smile enough to bear with it for a little longer.

But eventually, their parents all come over and she has to say goodbye to all the new friends she’s made. She staggers back over to Shiro who’s in the middle of a conversation with what she thinks are the family leaders. Matriarchs and Patriarchs and other such respected members of the civilization.

Lance just stands there listening for a while, letting Shiro’s soothing aura wash over her like the wind before a rainstorm. Everything, while chaotic and tiring, is going well until an offhanded comment from Lance seems to halt everything in its tracks.

“What are you going to do now that the galra are gone?” she asks, tired and sleepy but still curious and happy and interested. She’s thinking they’ll say something hopeful or excited. That now with a world of possibilities for them to explore, they’ll tell her of their dreams and hopes and futures. Of how they plan to chase after them, of how they can’t _wait._

Instead, she watches as the small group around her turns thoughtful and sad and a little confused.

“We do not know,” she thinks the one named Datyl says. Their lips are pursed in thought and she thinks they sound almost… lost. Suddenly, Lance feels cold even through the thermal of her suit and wishes she could wrap herself in Hunk’s arms to fight off the chill in her chest. “The galra have ruled for so long. We do not remember a time they did not hover over our lives.”

The group mutter and whisper around her and they do not seem to understand how heartbroken it makes her. Sure, Voltron had given them hope, but it is still so _new_ to them. It is an unfamiliar weight they don’t know what to do with and it breaks her heart.

She turns to Shiro, who is standing just as tall as he was before but now there’s the same expression of hesitation on his face. The same unhappiness Lance feels, written in his spine plain as day.

They’d forgotten, in the midst of throwing themselves into this war, that the towns and cities and planets destroyed in the battles still need to be rebuilt when all is said and done.

They’d forgotten that in order to be protectors--in order to _win_ , truly and completely--they’ll need to help fix the things that were broken. Not just keep them from breaking again.

Victory means nothing if you lost everything to gain it.

***

After that, Shiro had quickly gathered them all up and pushed them back into the castle. Lance waved goodnight to the balmerans she’d spoken to and quickly followed after their leader, eager to get this conversation over with.

She was already jealous of Hunk. _He_ got to just be unconscious while the rest of them scrambled around trying to fix things.

Ten minutes later, all conscious residents of the Castle sans Rolo and Nyma stood in the Bridge. Thirty minutes after that, they were all still standing there.

They were all incapable of agreeing on this apparently.

Questions and arguments popped up quickly once Shiro started speaking and things only devolved from there.

They were worried about the balmerans, but should they meddle in things they don’t understand? How do any of them know the balmerans won’t be fine without their help? They were already self-sustaining, weren’t they? Why should Voltron involve themselves? They have other places to be, more planets to save and battles to win.

They can’t stay here and hold the hand of one civilization at the cost of all others.

But on the other hand, though, hadn’t the balmerans been enslaved for generations? Do they even know how to live on their own? How are they going to develop or rebuild? What were they even like before the galra came? Can they get back to that? Do the balmerans even _want_ to?

And can Voltron really just abandon these people if they need their help? Is that who they want to be?

Around and around the conversation turns. Arguing one point to death before bringing up another in a never-ending, circular cycle of pain and annoyance. The entire thing is starting to give Lance a headache and she’s starting to debate the merit of telling everyone to _stuff it._

It’s been a long day, and she wants nothing more than to join Hunk and Allura in the land of blessed unconsciousness, to fall face-first into her bed and sleep for a week.

But Defenders of the Universe don’t get to do that apparently, and instead, she has to stand here and refrain from murdering her teammates. Specifically, Keith who keeps yelling at her for even _suggesting_ they stay and help the balmerans. Pidge is doing the same thing, but to a lesser degree and actually uses logic and facts. Something Keith doesn’t do.

Coran is on her side mostly, though he also sees the merit of leaving. They have other matters to attend to after all.

Shiro, their leader and built-in mediator, is standing off to the side, unable to decide what to do either. He’s too empathetic to abandon a civilization that might need their help, but he’s also to practical to stay. The dark bruises the size of Texas under his eyes probably aren’t helping.

He looks as tired as Lance feels. Which is a hell of a lot. Almost ten shit tons if she’s doing her math correct.

It’s probably what’s making him slow to stop any arguments happening in front of him.

It’s not until Keith snaps at Pidge--the person who is, for all intents and purposes, _on his side--_ does Lance finally decide enough is enough.

“Okay!” she yells, hands clapping together loudly and drawing everyone’s attention to her. “We’re obviously not going to get anywhere like this. We’re all tired and angry so I think we should all step back and take a breath, yeah?”

“Who died and made _you_ leader?” Keith spits.

Lance graciously ignores him. She’s too tired for his bitching anyway. “We aren’t going to decide anything by screaming, and we have to wait for Hunk and Allura’s opinions anyway. So it’s not like we don’t have time, right? Right. I’m always right.”

She tilts her head at Shiro, waiting for him to say his piece. He’s rubbing at his eyes but nods his head decisively even though he looks like a strong breeze will knock him over.

“Lance is right,” he says, “we’re going in circles. Everyone go to bed. We’ll talk more in the morning when we’ve all had time to think about it.”

Lance almost blurts out that it’s morning _now_ , but figures splitting those kinds of hairs will only be counterproductive to what she just did. Also, Shiro just agreed with her.

She _really_ shouldn’t piss him off.

Keith nor Pidge look excited at being told it was the equivalent of bedtime but Coran does a little hop before walking out of the room with his usual brand of cheer, even humming a jaunty little tune under his breath.

Lance jogs to catch up with him instead of getting stuck walking with the Cranky Christmas Duo behind her.

He slows down when he notices her walking beside him and Lance smiles up at him, willing away the paladin suit and leaving her in a plain baseball tee and skinny jeans. She sighs exaggeratedly in relief which earns her a grin from Coran.

He offers his arm to her almost absently and Lance settles her hand in the crook of his elbow, letting him ‘escort’ her to her room. “Quite the day, eh?” he says jovially despite the way his eyelids droop with exhaustion himself.

She huffs wryly. “I suppose you could say that. I started the day not knowing for sure that magic existed and I ended it by doing some myself.”

Coran hums. “I suppose I’ll have to start adding Magic Theory to the lessons now.”

“Not more homework,” she groans. “I ran away from school so I _wouldn’t_ have to study.”

He laughs, warm and bright and Lance settles further into his side. “I’m afraid so, my dear girl. The Lions will teach your magic to you but I see no reason not to tell you of the history of magic and how alteans came to possess our version of it. I have a feeling Number One, at least, will be very interested.”

Lance agrees. She’d seen Hunk when they were constructing the array. He’ll no doubt have a million questions as soon as he wakes up.

“Wait, ‘your version’?” she asks through a yawn, mind catching onto that wording.

“Well, of course,” he says, looking down at her thoughtfully. “Magic spans the entirety of the universe, but the way it’s practiced differs from culture to culture. The magic you and your fellow paladins practice is really quite different from Altean Alchemy. It’s actually quite different from anything else, really. It’s why your Lions must teach you. The ancient art is unique to you and you alone.”

Lance lets that thought roll around her mind and considers the implications and connotations of such a thing. She’s not sure how she feels about it, this new thing that is just one more in a long line of things that make her different.

“But we could still learn alchemy if we wanted? Even though our magic is… different?”

“Well, of course!” Coran affirms. “It is not the natural path your magic will wish to flow, but it is not impossible, only perhaps difficult. King Alfor was a paladin and still one of the best Alchemists in our known history, only the ancients, and Queen Melanor were-”

Lance blinks, lets that catch up with her sleep-addled mind and then stops in her tracks, cutting off what Coran was about to say.

“Allura’s father was a paladin?”

Coran looks back at her, eyebrows furrowed deeply and wrinkling his forehead, “I’d already told you that, haven’t I?”

Wordlessly, Lance shakes her head ‘no’.

Coran blinks, mulling that over. “Hmm. Well, yes. Allura's father was indeed a paladin. It was a great honor, and why Allura cares and knows so much about the Lions. It was always believed she would succeed her father, but…” he stares off in front of him as if seeing something else. A scene long past. “The Goddess weaves her tapestry in mysterious ways, and instead, she chose you five to pilot the Lions.”

Lance goes quiet in the wake of that revelation.

She hadn’t known that. Hadn’t known any of it.

She wonders which Lion King Alfor piloted, wonders which one of them replaced Allura’s father. Then Lance wonders how Allura can stand to look at whoever it is and not be _furious_ because it should be her father standing there and it _isn’t._

Lance doesn’t think she could do it and she doesn’t ever want to find out.

The silence around them is filled with sadness and grief, things Lance normally tries not to think about too hard.

So, she does what she does best and she talks. She opens her mouth and asks Coran about alchemy and then teases him about how it sounds more like nerdy science stuff than magic.

It makes the much older alien laugh, smile warm and bright like it should be. It’s wistful and homesick, but so is Lance almost all the time, she won’t call him out on that at least. “I suppose it was! We alteans always were a scientific bunch.” And he’s still willing to share with her, to speak of his people and his home.

Lance beams up at him, trying to convey the affection and warmth bubbling in her chest, and makes a mental note to return the favor sometime soon.

It’s then that they find themselves at her door and the exhaustion pushes itself back to the front of her mind. Her eyes, that had already been heavy, are now almost impossible to keep open. Another jaw-cracking yawn forces its way up her throat.

“I think it’s time you went off to bed,” Coran says softly.

Lance hums noncommittally. She stands on her tiptoes and tugs Coran down--why is he so _tall,_ this should be illegal--and places a quick kiss on his cheek the same way she does with Hunk.

Coran looks surprised for a split second before a bright grin overtakes his face. Lance is already stumbling through the door and doesn’t see it. “Night, Coran.”

“Goodnight, my dear.”

She’s asleep before her head even hits the pillow.

***

Hunk wakes up in his quarters which is strange in the sense that he doesn’t remember falling asleep in them. But before he has the chance to be confused, he catches sight of Lance who is curled up in the desk chair, head bent over a stack of papers and scribbling across it furiously.

It takes her a long moment to notice he’s awake and he patiently waits for her to turn towards him, taking his time to actually wake up because the second she notices, he knows he will no longer have the chance.

Lance is a morning person where Hunk is not. It takes him a while to blink the sleep from his eyes and after so many years of friendship with Lance, he’s learned to jealously hoard every second he’s allowed to lie in bed while she’s around.

Eventually, she looks up at him almost absentmindedly, like she’d been doing it periodically since she sat down. She ends up having to do a double-take when she realizes his eyes were open the first time she looked.

The grin spreading across her face is wide and relieved and Hunk sleepily returns with one of his own.

 _“Aloha kakahiaka, kaipo,”_ she greets warmly.

 _“Buenos dias, estrellita,”_ he returns, voice still gruff with sleep and barely recognizable as words.

Lance, well versed in understanding his morning voice, just tilts her head at the term of endearment. She always had liked his nicknames for her. Said they were special in a way the ones she gave him just weren’t. He didn’t really agree with her, but he used the few he had for her as much as he could.

“You’ve been out since yesterday and missed breakfast,” Lance starts rambling, already speaking a mile a minute. “Can’t say you would’ve wanted to be there though. All we did was yell at each other. I bailed before Pidge could start throwing fists though.” Hunk wants to be worried about that but it’ll be another three minutes before emotions catch up with him. “Allura was still asleep last time I checked. So, you win I guess.”

Hunk hums, raising his hand in victory before letting it flop over the side of his bed.

Lance laughs at him because she’s horribly unsympathetic to anyone who lacks her early morning energy. Or, afternoon energy he supposes.

“What are you working on?” he asks as Lance gathers all the papers together in a neat pile to place at the corner of the desk. She plucks the topmost sheet to wave it in front of him.

“Sheet music. There no recognizable instruments on this stupid ship so I have to write down all my thoughts like a Neanderthal.” She drops her chin into her waiting hand petulantly. “I’m itching to get my hands on a guitar or ukulele or, _hell,_ I’ll even be fine with a violin!”

Hunk hums sympathetically, the ‘pretentious guitar’ as she calls it is always her last option. She must be going crazy not having anything to do with her hands or a way to express herself the way her guitar lets her. It was always better when Lance had something to fiddle with, helped her concentrate on whatever problem that was swimming through her mind.

With the way she’s swinging her legs around wildly just to _move_ , the problem must be pretty big. She’s only this erratic when she’s particularly frustrated. Hunk bets it has something to do with whatever happened at breakfast.

“Have you tried doing any of your old routines?” he asks. “The training room is big enough. And I’m pretty sure there has to be a setting to make the floor soft enough to be a mat.”

Lance runs a hand through her hair--sluggishly, Hunk notes that it’s the first time he’s seen it down since they launched into space--and groans frustratedly.

“Keith hogs the training room. And what I really want to do is silks. I want to be up in the _air_ , Hunk,” she whines dramatically, collapsing against the desk and almost knocking all of her neat papers onto the floor.

She doesn’t fix them or even seem to notice she destroyed her pile.

“You could ask Coran if he could set it up for you? There has to be more than one training room in a place this big right? And now that he has the secondary systems up and running, I’m sure if they don’t have the right fabric on hand you could get it made by the Dressing Room.”

She hums noncommittedly which Hunk knows means she won’t do it. At least not right now.

“Coran’s busy. Don’t want to bother him when he’s being all… _advisor-y._ ” Abruptly, she pushes herself off the chair and flings herself at his bed. She makes the whole mattress bounce and ends up landing half on top of him.

He grumbles half-heartedly at the sudden attack on his person but wiggles around so he can wrap his arms around her waist. She takes longer to get comfortable, squirming all over before she settles down with her arms wrapped around his neck and forehead pressed firmly into the side of his neck.

He leans his cheek against the top of her head and for a long time, it’s just the two of them, legs tangled and hearts synched and arms tight. It’s them, comfortable in the way they only truly are with one another.

After a while, he starts playing with the ends of her hair. Running the strands through his fingers as she sighs contently, breathing deep like a weight had been lifted from her chest.

He’s one of the few people outside of Lance’s immediate family who is allowed to actually touch her hair. It’s a privilege he cherishes and never takes lightly. He understands the level of trust it took to let him get there, and he’ll _die_ before he abuses it.

He remembers the reason it’s one of her rules, the reason she never lets her hair down in public anymore. The memory burns like acid and bile on the back of his tongue and he pulls Lance closer as if to chase it away. Her nails scrape against the nape of his neck reassuringly and he presses a light kiss to her forehead, soaking in her presence.

He’s been doing that a lot lately. They both have.

Reaching out for each other more than frequently than he can ever remember them doing. They’d been sharing sleeping space more often than not for the past month. Shared homesickness and nightmares pushing them even closer together.

Hunk supposes it’s not the worst way to cope with life-altering situations. They aren’t alcoholics, at least, so there’s that.

“I’m sorry.” is the first thing he says after he truly wakes up, his actions from yesterday returning with a certain type of clarity. But with them, comes a bitter taste on his tongue.

Lance doesn’t move besides tightening her arms around his neck. She starts to say _it’s okay--_ because of course she already knows what this is about and what he’s about to say--but he cuts her off before she can finish.

“No. No, it _wasn’t_. It wasn’t okay for me to say those things. It wasn’t okay to yell at you about something just to turn around and do it myself. And it _certainly_ wasn’t okay for me to try and ask you to- to _stop_ being you. To stop helping people just because I’m _worried out of my mind_.”

He buries his face in her hair and breathes deeply, composing himself. When he continues, it’s muffled, his lips still pressed to her skin.

“You’ve been like this since I met you. Hell! We _met_ because you’re like this. But I just… ever since we got to space that part of you that I was always exasperatedly fond of, now _terrifies me_ because the stakes are _so much_ higher now and I know you’re not going to stop for anything and I am-” His voice catches but he keeps going because she needs to _understand_. “I’m sorry that at every turn I try and talk you down or make you give up instead of supporting your decisions like I _should_ be doing. So I’m just- _I’m sorry.”_

It’s quiet and still for a moment in the dim lighting of his room after his apology. But then Lance shifts and, despite the shadows, he can easily make out the crooked grin stretched across her lips.

“Are you done with your word vomiting now?”

Hunk rolls his eyes and tugs lightly on her hair in retaliation. Lance laughs in his face as he grumbles miserably. “I’m being serious.”

“I _know_ that, ya big lug nut.” In her defense, she does stop laughing even if she can’t quite smother her fond grin. “And, look, I get it okay? Yeah, maybe you were being a grade A ass, but that’s okay--or, well, not _okay_ but you get what I mean. I can’t be mad at you for worrying about me because I know you’re scared--you’re _always_ scared, that’s just how _you_ are--and right now… so am I.”

She’s sobered as she talks but now she looks almost haunted and her gaze is a little unfocused.

“When you and Allura fell over I thought for sure that… I’m supposed to be the reckless one. The thought of you… _leaving_ first…” she barks a laugh that sounds closer to a sob and in the next second her face is buried in his neck, Hunk’s arms wrapped around her as tight as he can make them without hurting her.

This feels strangely like the night after Lance recovered from the bombing only reversed.

Even as she shakes against him, she tries to keep talking and Hunk would roll his eyes in any other scenario because, of course, she tries to keep talking. She’s always talking. It’s her thing.

“So, _yeah_. I- I forgive you and _I’m_ sorry for putting you through that feeling over and over again. I can’t- I can’t _imagine…_ I know I can be stupid when trying to help others and… and I can’t just _stop-”_

“And I don’t want you to!” Hunk interjects, because that was kind of the whole _point_ of this conversation. Not to make her cry and feel bad. If she completely missed the point and only heard what she wanted Hunk swears he’ll-

“I know. I know,” she soothes. “I know you don’t. But we can’t keep doing _this._ Terrifying each other over and over because it’s pushing us together right now but… eventually, it will break us and I don’t _want_ that.” She says it with such vehemence that it would take Hunk by surprise if he didn’t feel the exact same way. “So I’ll… I can’t _stop_ , but, I’ll- I’ll try to slow down. I won’t ‘go looking for trouble’ as you love to say.”

He knows she’s just trying to make a joke to lighten the mood because she hates being sad and with them bound as tightly as they are now, it’s like a positive feedback of emotions. The skin on skin contact isn’t helping despite the comfort they get by being close. The sadness almost seems to seep through their skin into one another.

But, that doesn’t mean Lance’s joke doesn’t lighten the mood at all.

Hunk glares playfully. “Look, I maintain that sentiment. No twelve year old could feasibly get into _that_ amount of trouble without doing _something_ to cause it.”

“And I maintain that I don’t go _looking_ for trouble!” she says, probably sounding perfectly reasonable to herself. “Trouble just walks past with its door open more often than not when I know I can help.”

Hunk rolls his eyes. They’ve had this argument too many times for him to think they’ll get anywhere with it now.

But, well, they’re both smiling now and the humming in his chest feels like sunlight and mountain streams rather than like saltwater and soggy leaves, so he supposes Lance accomplished her goal at least.

***

Eventually, she and Hunk have to leave the cocoon of warmth and love that is Hunk’s room. Her Pooh Bear is starving for one and they really do need to return to the real world and it’s multiple problems and arguments.

It’s lunchtime now, so she isn’t really surprised to find everyone but Allura sat at the table. Or, no, she is kind of surprised to see Rolo, Nyma and their bot there, bunched together and as far away from the paladins plus Coran as they can get.

But, she supposes kinda-sorta-not-really prisoners need to eat too, so…

Hunk bustles about the kitchen, trying to make the food goo as appetizing as possible while Lance stands there and stares at the dining table and its residents.

God, she feels like she’s in an eighties high school cafeteria trying to choose between two opposing cliques. Eventually, she gives up and just plops smack dab in the middle of them both, unwilling to choose.

More room for her, she supposes.

Shiro looks like he’s torn between wanting to scold her for not presenting a united front by sitting with them and relieved that she’s playing Mediator of sorts by not actually picking a side.

She feels like she’s playing mediator more and more these days. It’s tiring and she doesn’t know how Mace did it when they were kids.

Hunk places her food in front of her then plops into the seat across from her, conveniently also in the exact middle of the two groups. _Dios mio_ , she loves his stupid face.

She takes a bite of her food goo and watches Hunk carefully. On the walk over she’d given him a rundown of the situation and their options for dealing with the Balmera. He’d had… opinions and now she’s just waiting for the show to start.

Her favorite past time was winding Hunk up and then just… watching him go.

He’s a very passionate person. Normally his passion is geared towards science and running away from things, but every once and a while, Lance will get to watch him rant and rave about a certain problem he’s frustrated with or cause he’s supporting.

And this time is no different.

Halfway through Hunk’s tirade slash very logical and methodical argument, Lance has to hide her smile behind her hand because the look on their faces is priceless. The first time Hunk gets into an argument with you is the _last time_ you want him to get into an argument with you. He’s scarily thorough and it’s near impossible to win any academic debate against him.

She’s pleasantly surprised that instead of the mute fear and surprise the others wear blatantly, Coran just sits there beaming proudly at Hunk.

When Hunk finishes, satisfied he made his point, Coran actually stands from his seat and _applauds_.

Hunk gazes up at him, completely bewildered, while Lance just grins like a loon because there is a _reason_ she likes Coran so much. She stands with him and claps for Hunk too because she’s an asshole and this is the best thing ever.

“Bravo, my boy! Jolly good show! Fantastic!” he praises and with every word, Hunk turns just a bit redder. “You have quite a way with words, dear boy! My! You remind me of the late Queen Melanor. She was feisty one, she was. Never wanted to disagree with her without good reason. She’d rip your throat out with her teeth and laugh!” Coran chuckles fondly while Hunk looks mildly alarmed at the comparison.

Lance laughs at him and decides she would have _loved_ Queen Melanor. A woman after her own heart.

“Well!” Coran claps his hands together one final time, a bright grin on his face. “I believe we have that all sorted out now don’t we? I’ll be making preparations for our aid of the balmerans and docking the ship for our movement long stay if anyone needs me. I’ll leave all the destroying of galra mining rigs and such things in your capable hands Shiro.”

He gives a short bow before turning to walk out, squeezing Hunk’s shoulder as he passes and wiggling his fingers back at Lance when she waves goodbye too.

Lance sits back in her seat and happily munches on barely decent food goo while the others in the room shift uncomfortably. Hunk just digs into his food the second Coran is gone, either not caring or ignoring the stares everyone is giving him.

“That was…” Pidge starts, “Mildly terrifying and weirdly awesome?” Hunk raises his brow at her questioning tone. “Man, and I thought your scary face when we’re debating string theory was bad.” She gives a low whistle before standing up herself. “Well, someone can come and get me whenever we decide to head down to the planet. I’ll be in my lab.”

Rolo and Nyma beat a hasty retreat after that as well, Beezer beeping urgently at their heels and Lance idly watches them go. Keith and Shiro aren’t far behind, the pair talking about something or other and then it’s just the two of them in the dining room.

Lance takes a thoughtful bite of her goo before pointing her spoon at him accusingly.

“You scared them all away.”

Hunk opens his mouth like he’s about to argue but them grimaces instead. “Yeah, that’s fair.” His plate is empty of goo now despite the fact it held probably twice as much as hers did. She slides the last fourth of her plate over to him and watches as he happily scarfs that down too.

***

They quickly learn that the balmerans are apparently a simple people and have always been. Which is good, Lance doesn’t think they could’ve helped rebuild a complex society in what roughly approximates to a week.

The balmerans also apparently don’t have a leader per se. Instead, have some sort of coexistence mainframe built on the overarching empathy network of the Balmera powered by a continuous flow of magic between the Balmera and the balmerans.

They call it the Sharing of Breath.

Lance calls it a hive mind.

Hunk hits her for that but it’s worth it to see Pidge try and hide her snickering. She’s also pretty sure she catches Shiro’s mouth twitching at the corners and is thus unbearably proud of herself for the next hour.

Either way, the balmerans are confident that they can handle most of the things in a functional society by themselves and only really need Voltron to help take down all the mining rigs and equipment the Balmera dismantled during the circle. It’s all junk metal but the technology is still useful and they figure it will help them rebuild.

With the rotation Shiro puts all the paladins on for Destruction Duty, Lance knows they could easily get everything taken down before the week is up.

But she also thinks no one wants to make Hunk angry and so they don’t point it out. Hunk doesn’t care either way and happily spends his spare time with Shay and their family after finally introducing them to Lance.

Lance meets them and immediately decides Shay is possibly _the_ sweetest person she’s ever met and possesses a curiosity to rival Hunk’s. She can already see the easy way the two of them interact with each other. The same steadiness in their spines that denote them as creatures of similar breed. Gentle giants.

And, well, Shay is bigger than Hunk. Taller and wider and probably stronger.

Lance knows that had always been one of Hunk’s things he thought he’d never get in a relationship but wanted endlessly. Someone who could make him feel small and protected like he did for everyone else.

Also, their little stubby tail that just kept wagging back and forth was the cutest thing Lance had ever seen and she desperately wishes she had a video camera.

“Can I ask something?” she turns to Colril, the oldest balmeran closest to her--she’s currently surrounded by children who think she’s a shiny new plaything--and asks. “What’s with the stone around Hunk’s neck?”

Shay’s eyes keep following its movement as if drawn there by some invisible force. Every time Hunk touches it or fiddles with the string, a small smile grows across the balmerans face and it’s driving Lance _crazy._

If she discovers Hunk accidentally got engaged to an alien on the first planet they saved she’ll never let him live it down. Ever.

Colril follows her gaze and something like pride or excitement spreads across their face. “It’s a Touchstone. Shay had given it to the Guardian his first time on our Balmera.”

Lance nods and shifts to help one of the small kids climb up her back. She had already known that. “Okay, but what does it mean? Why did they give it to him?”

Colril takes a moment to think over their answer. “It is hard to explain. The Touchstone is a connection, a spark, between two people. It is like the Sharing of Breath.”

Lance cocks her head to the side in confusion. “It makes them share quintessence?”

“No. It is more like…” they pause, fidgeting in place. “Symbolic. The joining of two families into one. A show of the new bond between them. The Guardian had told us his family was far and out of reach. So Shay offered for him to join ours.”

Lance opens and closes her mouth twice before she _wheezes_. The kids playing around her stop playing to look at her but Lance ignores them.

Hunk didn’t get alien married, he got alien _adopted._ Oh _, dios mio_ she can’t _breathe._

Colril looks down at her in concern, worry in their eyes as she bends over and _laughs_ because this is hilarious. She really hopes this isn’t some alien culture thing she’s misunderstanding because Hunk getting adopted by the first aliens that see him is _priceless._

“Sorry, sorry!” she wheezes between her snickers. “I shouldn’t laugh it’s just… ah, it’s a weird thing back on my planet.” She smiles up at them. “…Thank you for caring about him.”

“Of course. You are his kin mate, are you not?”

Lance grin turns soft, “Yeah, something like that. Hunk is family…” her smile falls just a bit as she looks back over at Hunk, laughing at something Shay said. “The only one I have right now.”

Colril looks down at her sadly, their mouth twisted in a frown before they break into a grin, sharp teeth flashing in the light as they thump their hand onto her shoulder, almost knocking her to the ground. “Shadow show! Any kin of the Guardian’s is kin of ours!”

Lance decides then that Colril’s alright. Jovial and warm and energetic despite all the hardships they must have had growing up and living beneath the shadow of the galra.

But then a thought occurs to her and her mouth twists like she’s sucking on a lemon. “Wait, if Hunk is apart of your family now, does that mean Hunk and Shay are siblings?”

Colril stares down at her for a long while before they burst out laughing. It catches the attention of both Hunk and Shay but she just waves them off.

“You are a funny one, Paladin! Siblings! Those two are certainly not bonded as _kin mates.”_

Okay, now Lance is confused again. Wasn’t Hunk alien adopted a second ago? Or, wait, did _Shay_ adopt Hunk? Is he their son now? Oh man, this is really awkward to think about. She was _sure_ Shay had been as smitten as Hunk was.

Her confusion must show on her face because Colril eventually stops laughing. Now they also look confused and it’s just a lot of confusion in one place. She thinks she may be getting a headache.

Luckily, Mal chooses that moment to make their grand appearance, revealing they had been listening to their whole conversation. “A Touchstone can be a platonic or a romantic exchange. Normally it is the former, but…” the three of them stare out at Hunk and Shay, “I do not believe that is true this time. They do not act as kin mates act.”

Lance scoffs, going back to playing with whatever kids wandered close enough to her. “You can say that again.” If Hunk looked at her like he’s looking at Shay they would have _problems_.

***

It’s after one of Lance’s long shifts of carefully ripping up galra rigging so it wouldn’t hurt the recovering Balmera that she decides she can’t wait any longer. She’s been trying to corner Rolo and Nyma since the whole ‘liberating a planet’ deal so she can talk to them but she’s pretty sure they’re avoiding her.

Really, they’re more likely avoiding everyone but it’s currently inconveniencing her the most so it’s starting to piss her off.

Lance decides rather than try to unsuccessfully track them down again, she’ll just have CORINN rat them out. Five minutes later, she’s faced with two nervous bounty hunters and is wondering how she ever survived without an all-knowing AI in the walls.

“What do you want?” Nyma snaps at her, tone nothing but vitriol and fear and exhaustion. Lance remembers that while the pair may be safe from the galra, to them, they’re now living with a whole new kind of enemy roaming the unfamiliar halls around them.

And still, they came out of hiding to help them when it seemed like everything was falling apart. Coran told her that while Nyma took over the comms, Rolo had been helping out with running defenses, swearing the whole time about how he’d seen better particle barriers on hundred-year-old cargo bobs.

She doesn’t quite believe their excuse of ‘in their best interests.’ Well, she believes it, but she doesn’t think it’s the only reason. Lance likes them, and she’s good at picking people to like. There has to be something good about them in there somewhere.

And even if there wasn’t, her Mamá taught her manners. Getting marooned in space didn’t immediately knock them out of her.

“I wanted to say thank you.”

Rolo blinks at her dumbly and Nyma’s eyebrows furrow.

“What?”

“Thank you,” Lance repeats, hands clasped behind her as she rocks back and forth on the balls of her feet. Azura croons in the back of her mind, a confusing cocktail of pride and minor resentment in the soft notes. “Specifically for saving our asses.”

Nyma narrows her eyes. “We weren’t trying to save your anything.”

Lance shrugs. Nyma can growl and groan all she wants, Lance doesn’t really believe her. She’s too defensive for that to be true. “I’m not exactly sure why you’re trying to be all broody or make the others think you’re horrible people-”

“We _are_ horrible people,” Rolo interjects, trying to sound firm but missing the mark and landing somewhere in uncertainty.

Lance gives him a _look_ and continues, “But as far as I’m concerned, you’re alright. Fear makes even the nicest people do shitty things and from where I’m standing? You guys seem sorry you did it, which is enough for me. So… I forgive you. Or, at least, I’m willing to work _towards_ forgiving you,” she says cheerily, sticking her hand out in front of her and hoping that the gesture translates well.

Nyma and Rolo stare down at the appendage incredulously but unconfused.

“We tried to steal your Lion,” Nyma blurts as if Lance just _forgot_ that little detail.

Her mouth hardens into a line. “I remember.”

Her voice is a little colder, a little harder than it was a moment ago and she can see Rolo and Nyma flinch. Lance takes a deep breath and releases it through her nose. _“But,_ as I said, fear makes you do shitty things. So I’m forgiving but not forgetting. It’ll be a while before I can trust you, but,” she shrugs again. “it’s not like we don’t have time.”

She wiggles her fingers.

“You’re bat shit insane,” Rolo says bluntly, meeting her eyes. Lance grins at him.

 _“Obviously._ I started fighting in a ten-thousand-year-old war because the cat-shaped warship that lives in my head said to.” She wiggles her eyebrows in time with her fingers and sees Rolo crook a smile. “Besides, I’ve never been good at holding grudges anyway. That’s what Hunk is for.”

“The big yellow guy?”

“That’s the one.”

Rolo snorts, sharing a look with Nyma who only looks marginally less frosty than when the conversation started. He clasps her hand and gives a solid shake. “Well, I can see what he meant about staying away from you.”

Lance cocks her head.  What had Hunk said about her this time? Nothing bad, she’s sure, but enough to make Rolo look thoughtful.

She shakes her head, deciding it’s not worth it. “Come on, it’s dinner time and you can tell me all about the mission that put you on the galra’s shit list.”

Rolo laughs and follows after her, Nyma is slower but moves which Lance takes as progress. “What makes you think it was only one?”

***

Trying to integrate Rolo and Nyma into the group is harder than Lance expected. Especially since Hunk is _definitely_ holding a grudge and refuses to do more than the bare minimum for Rolo or Nyma, even after Lance asks him nicely.

She starts spending time with them at meals, hoping if she shows that they’re okay and she’s fine with them, the others will follow suit.

So far, the only person that’s worked on is Coran.

On day five of being on the Balmera, Lance grows impatient and when she sees Pidge, Hunk, and Coran engaging in techno-babble about the Castle’s defenses, she runs off to find Rolo and practically throws him into the conversation while she sprawls across Hunk and Pidge’s lap to keep them from leaving.

Hunk glares at her for two whole minutes but speaks with Rolo anyway. The alien has good insight considering he’s the only one who’s familiar with the newest systems in the galaxy and by the end of the conversation, Lance is proud to say that Rolo is at least on speaking terms with the others.

Now, Lance just needs to convince Nyma to stop being such a bitch for five minutes and make some friends.

***

The Lab, as Katie’s taken to calling it in her head, is a thing of beauty.

When she asked Coran for a workspace, she hadn’t expected to get one so _nice_. It was _way_ better than the community one the Garrison forced everyone to use and even the personal one her father had at home.

The Lab is wide open and spacious, all hard floors and bright lights. Perfect for experimentation and test runs and building whatever she wanted. Worktables of different sizes were scattered around the edges of the room like tiny islands in a sea of possibilities. Display cases and cabinet like things were embedded in the walls for easy storage and also probably safety measures.

Katie took one look at the room and fell in love.

She squealed so loudly that Coran nearly fell over in surprise when she lunged at him for a hug. She thanked him probably eight times before rushing off to her room and practically moving into The Lab instead. It was made easy by the couch nestled in the far corner, away from all the science that would no doubt happen at all hours of the day.

The moment she discovers the holographic projectors in the worktables is the moment she decides she’s never leaving. The holographs work like the ones in the bridge, which is fine, but ultimately clunky for what Katie wants to use them for.

She spends whatever free time she has that day, tinkering with technology far more advanced than anything seen on earth and by the end of it, she’s made it _better._

Equations and blueprints fly around her at her command. She is a conductor in a symphony of technology and genius design. The light green glow of the holographs is a humming sort of comfort painted in the exact shade of Digit’s panel lights.

She’s running a final scan on Rover to make sure he’s all okay to boot up while also looking through the pieces of CORINN’s code Coran had let her take a look at.

The Castle AI is a work of _art._ Katie remembers programming an AI when she was seven, but it wasn’t nearly as sophisticated as this. What Katie has made and what’s in front of her now is _leagues_ apart, maybe even light-years.

Not that she’ll let it stay that way for long. She hasn’t touched AIs since she made her own, but she has a renewed interest in the project now.

She’s also trying to decipher the galra thumb drive but it’s slow going. Slang and language have changed so much in the last ten thousand years that it’s taking forever for the system to work through it. Katie is most invested in this project, but it’s frustrating her to the point of screaming.

Hence, her other two pet projects happening at the same time.

It’s during one of Katie’s headfirst dives in trying to decipher galra code and language patterns and getting ultimately nowhere with it, that Lance decides to make her appearance.

A low whistle sounds out across the space, bouncing off the walls with its amazement.

“Damn, this is swanky. It’s like nerd heaven in here.” Katie doesn’t look up at her, focused on the holograph in front of her spitting out nonsense. “You better not let Hunk know you have this. My baby boy will get _unbearably_ jealous.”

“Is there something you _need_ , Lance?” she snaps out, her fingers sharp and agitated where she practically stabs them at the _stupid,_ uncooperative program in front of her.

Lance grabs a rolling chair from another worktable and swivels her way over to the other side of the bench Katie’s at. She can see Lance’s face through the green glow but ignores her.

“I came to drag you out of your hidey-hole.”

Katie blinks. “Is it my shift already?”

“Nope.” Lance says, popping the ‘p’ loud enough to echo around the room. “I came to tell you to get in the flight pod, loser. We’re going _shopping.”_

“What?” At this Katie finally looks up to glare at the annoyance that is currently taking the form of a teenage girl dressed in a crop top and skinny jeans. “No. Go _away_ , Lance. I’m busy.”

Lance doesn’t move but she also doesn’t talk again. Katie goes back to her program, intent on just waiting Lance out knowing she’ll eventually just get bored and leave. Despite Lance’s closeness with Hunk, the other girl was hardly one for technical jargon or ‘Geek Speak’ as she likes to call it.

It’s a long silence that stretches between them. Katie’s mind turning completely back to her work, her thoughts a massive swirl of equations and diagrams and ideas spinning too fast for any normal person to keep track of.

She blinks rapidly to stop the blurriness in her eyes. This is _important_. She can’t stop now. She _won’t_ stop now.

“You know,” Lance says with a heaviness to her voice. Katie jumps at the sound, having thought the other girl left a while ago. She whips her head to look at her but finds only a thoughtful expression on her face.

“If there’s anything you ever need help with…” Lance stops looking at Katie, her eyes turned down to the wrench she’s fiddling with, “I know I’m not much help with coding or building things--that’s Hunk’s thing--but if you need someone to rant at or a hired gun or just back up in general,” Lance’s eyes raise back up to hers with a sort of steely determination. “I’ll be there in a heartbeat. You know that right? No questions asked I mean it. If you need me, _I’ll be there._

“Because- _god,_ Pidge, if anything happened to my family I’d- I’d go _insane_. So, so I don’t know how you feel and I can only imagine but, _godammit_ , I’ll help you get them back if I have to tear apart the entire empire with my _bare hands.”_

Lance stops, seemingly just noticing she’s standing know and her hands are white-knuckled around the wrench in her hands. She slowly puts it down on the workbench and when she starts talking again her voice is quiet but so much more passionate than before. “I just- you act like you have to do this all alone and you _don’t._ You don’t need to leave to find them and you don’t need to do it alone.”

Katie only realizes she was crying when something wet drips onto her still outstretched hand. Her breath stutters back to her like she hadn’t breathed the entire time Lance had been speaking.

Maybe she hadn’t been.

She rips the glasses she doesn’t need off her face and scrubs at her eyes violently. She shouldn’t be _crying._

This isn’t that big of a deal--except that it is. It’s the _biggest_ deal and fuck Lance for always blindsiding her with this ‘caring’ bullshit.

She’s tired and probably hasn’t eaten in ten hours and her anxiety’s been ramped up to eleven ever since they set foot in that stupid cave on Earth so her emotions are just out of wack and it’s not that she’s actually _really touched_ by what Lance said or anything.

She’s just a mess of a human being who hasn’t done maintenance on her body in a while. That’s all.

A hand touches her shoulder and she rips her hand away to stare up at Lance. She gives her a smile, it’s watery and small but it almost sends Katie crying again because it’s filled with warmth and affection and looked just like how Matt’s looked when he said goodbye before stepping onto that spaceship.

“We’re a team, alright? Don’t shut us out.”

All she can do in nod mutely, not trusting her voice to work.

Lance’s smile gets bigger. “And, hey? Maybe one day we can be more than a team. Our little cobbled together space family. Defeating space dictators in between fighting over the remote.”

Katie cracks a grin at that, chuckling. “Yeah.” She wipes at her eyes, making sure no more have fallen. Then, with a deep breath, she puts her-- _Matt’s--_ glasses back on. “Yeah. I’d like that… Thanks, Lance.”

A hand ruffles her hair, obscuring her vision now that her bangs are hanging in front of her face. She squawks and bats the offending appendage away as best she can, swinging wildly where she can hear Lance laugh. “Of course, Pidgeon. Anything for my favorite pint-sized scientist.”

Katie fixes her hair grumpily, mouth turned down in a frown that desperately wants to be a grin.

She has less than a second to react before Lance grabs both her wrists and starts dragging her out of the Lab. She half-heartedly tries to stop her. She’s already ruined whatever concentration she had.

“Come on, nerd brain. You’re going to get out and see the light of day if it kills me. You can come back to your project with fresh eyes later. Hell, I’ll even let you borrow Hunk.”

“I thought you said I should never let Hunk see the Lab.”

Lance shrugs. “I’ll just ask Coran to give him one of his own. Besides, I’m sure whatever fun projects you’ve got going on in there will distract him from his jealousy.” She gives another pointed tug on Katie’s wrist, pulling her ever closer to the doorway.

“Okay! Okay! At least let me grab Rover first.”

Lance grins like she’s won something.

Katie tries not to think about how she kind of did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> some stuff happened eh? this was a winding down kind of chapter, filled with a lot of character conversations and relationship building. also!!! we finally know what the Touchstone is supposed to mean! Hunk's not engaged, but he is unwittingly adopted which I thought was much funnier tbh. (I kind of tried to describe it as a cross between a promise ring and a friendship bracelet. hopefully, you guys understood that.)
> 
> anyway, September just started and you know what that means!!! Halloween is just around the corner!!!!!!! I'm almost finished with a Halloween accompaniment to this fic I think you guys would be interested in? It's an AU of this AU and I'll be posting it weekly during October. so get ready for the spoopiness of that, coming at ya. the title is currently "beware the tides that pull you down (mercy is not something they know)" I'm still halfway through writing it but I'm super excited to show you guys the finished product!!
> 
> TRANSLATIONS:  
> "Good morning, sweetheart." -Lance, Hawaiian  
> "Good morning, little star." -Hunk, Spanish  
> "Oh my god." -Lance, Spanish


	15. The Great Grocery Store Adventure

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team finally go on their much-needed shopping trip. Hijinks ensue.

Lance gestures grandly to the view before her, her arms thrown out as if she can hold the scene in her arms. “Welcome, friends-- _and Keith--_ to the motherload!” she shouts, grin wide and happy.

The curling mass of winding streets and colorful vendor shops stand before them, a thousand different things to hear and see and experience. Everything was so interesting and new, and Lance itched to _explore_ this new environment with all its eclectic atmosphere and aliens going about their business.

The others--everyone except the alteans--step away from the pod to look out across the bright scene as well.

Allura was strictly forbidden from coming along due to her newfound narcolepsy problem and Coran had decided to stay behind as well to keep the Princess company for the five-plus hours the rest of them will be gone.

Lance had wilted when Coran said neither of them was coming but brightened easily enough as she promised to get them both presents from the swap-moon. Coran had blinked at her for a moment before grinning widely, saying he’d surely love whatever she got him.

The words and bright, fatherly grin made something warm and affectionate bubble up in Lance’s chest and she couldn’t stop herself from throwing her arms around his middle before quickly running off to the pod. She didn’t give Coran enough time to process what she did, much less hug back, but he was waving wildly as they left the pod bay.

The two-hour flight following that did nothing to dampen her mood, even with all seven people and two robots crammed in space equivalent of a soccer mom van.

The entire trip was a cacophony of complaining about hogging the seat, yelling about cheating at stupid road trip games, (the subsequent official group decision to forever ban the game ‘I-Spy’ after the fifth correct guess of ‘star’,) and Shiro spending a solid twenty minutes scolding her for skipping out on her Destruction Duty shift to go on a shopping trip.

(She had immediately argued that the whole thing was her idea anyway and that there was no way she _wasn’t_ coming with. This was team bonding! You can’t leave part of the team out of team bonding, _Shiro.)_

The whole thing had reminded her of the cross-country road trips she and her sisters would take the week before the entire family would vacation in Cuba for summers. She loved visiting her cousins at the family estate, but it was always that road trip she looked forward to at the start of every summer.

All the craziness and playful arguments and lifelong experiences were at the center of so many of her happiest memories. And while this isn’t the exact same, it was close enough to make Lance happy by some crazy pavlovian response.

Something Hunk no doubt picked up on with the way he kept shooting her knowing looks and small smiles.

Speaking of Hunk, he’s walked up to stand at her right shoulder, his eyes wide as he stares out at everything.

“Whoa,” he breathes, hand coming up to rest on her shoulder like he’s stopping her from running off. She’d be offended at the almost absent-minded reaction except that it’s a very real possibility right now. There’s just so much to _look at_ Lance can’t wait to dig her hands into it all.

“All right!” Shiro claps loudly, drawing everyone’s attention to him. “I’m going to lay down some ground rules-”

Before he can get very far in what is probably gearing up to be a lecture on ‘responsibility’ and other boring things, Lance groans loudly in complaint, effectively cutting him off.

“This is supposed to be a fun family vacation with the kids, Shiro! Not a school field trip with Mr. _Kill Joy.”_

Shiro gives her a highly unamused look. _“Rule number one,”_ he says firmly, looking her right in the eye as she pouts, “is that the buddy system is always in effect. I don’t want anybody getting lost, got it? Rule number two: no unnecessary purchases. We’re here for supplies and we only have so much money.”

That’s a lie. Altean currency is kind of wonky for transferring over to the Common Units used by the parts of the galaxy not under galra control, but Rolo and Nyma did something to the silver sticks in their pockets so they have near unlimited cash.

Lance isn’t sure how or where they got it, only that Pidge definitely wants them to teach her and that Lance doesn’t because she refuses to become an accomplice to their crimes. She’s been involved in enough of those already.

She will gladly use their probably stolen or fabricated money to her heart's content though, Shiro’s rules be damned. She’s here to _have fun._

“Rule number three: I want everyone back here in three hours. Is that understood?”

Everyone voices various levels of enthusiastic affirmation. And Shiro nods his head, content with having at least tried to wrangle them.

“Okay, everyone. Let’s go!” Lance shouts enthusiastically, snagging Hunk and Pidge’s wrists and flying down the hill to get lost in the crowds before the others can say anything to stop her.

“Don’t get into trouble!” Shiro calls after them which Lance pretends not to hear.

***

Hunk--never one for procrastinating, unlike herself--immediately drags them to every food stall in sight before letting them do anything else. He’s a verified Man on a Mission and neither Lance nor Pidge are willing to get in his way.

Armed with a device Coran modified to help scan foods saved for human consumption, Hunk is set to gather anything he can get his hands on. He has this dream of building a giant greenhouse somewhere in the Castle and he is damn well going to achieve it. If that means bleeding the market dry of anything and everything remotely consumable or resembling seeds?

That is a small price to pay in his mind.

It takes the trio three trips back to the pod laden with bags of food and coolers before Hunk is finally satisfied.

Don’t get her wrong, Lance is _excited_ by not having to eat doctored food goo anymore, but she also wants to run around the market to her heart's content and Hunk _won’t let her._

It’s been an hour and a half. She’s practically chomping at the bit by this point and they still have other essentials they need to buy that is on their list. Must need toiletries for her and Pidge, fabrics for the Dressing Rooms, basic first-aid items because they can’t just pop into the pods every time they get a cut, some sort of guitar-like instrument because Lance will _murder_ someone if she doesn’t get one soon, and any soaps or lotions she can find.

Pidge also insists on raiding any technology-based tents they come across for spare parts, quickly dragging Hunk into her nerdy hoarding rituals while Rover hovers over her shoulder beeping encouragingly.

Eventually, they move on to the fun stuff--not that she wasn’t enjoying herself before. Quipping with Pidge and hanging out with Hunk will forever be enough to make her happy, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t excited to run around and find all the shiny things.

Lance lights up and starts flitting from stall to stall, quickly scanning and touching all their wares before buying almost everything or leaving as fast as she approached.

Pidge makes a comment about how she's even scarier than Hunk with her fast-paced determination. Rover beeps agreeingly.

Lance blinks and then shrugs, moving on to the next stall and buying any face creams or hair products they have.

***

It’s somewhere around hour two that things start getting a little hinky.

Lance expected hijinks to ensue, but she didn’t expect _Shiro_ to be the first to start them.

Shiro, their fearless leader who’s too nice for his own good, has apparently been drawn in by any stall owner who calls out to him. He’s been roped into buying so many random knick-knacks that the knapsack he carries is practically overflowing with them.

He also keeps getting propositioned by passing aliens, whether for the advanced tech in his arm or for _other_ , more interesting, activities.

Lance knows this because he’s in the middle of such an exchange when the three of them finally run back into him. His face is bright red as he politely refuses the advances of his would-be admirer and she is the first one to understand what is happening.

She starts laughing so hard she’s _wheezing,_ and it only gets worse when Pidge asks where Keith is, figuring the loner would stick to Shiro, only to find out their fearless leader _lost_ the most reckless human in existence in the first ten minutes of them being here.

Lance can’t _breathe._ Hunk is actually looking a little worried for her.

He agrees to help keep an eye out for Keith while he leads Lance and Pidge away, the pair still cackling up a storm. He’s much less of an asshole than she is and thus isn’t laughing at Shiro’s so he can do that. She knows he’s more than amused though, he’s just better at being nice about it.

***

Despite having been looking for Keith, they instead find Nyma ten minutes later with no Rolo. Lance isn’t exactly surprised. She hadn’t expected them to follow Shiro’s rules anyways.

“Hey, Nyma!” Lance greets. “How are- what are you doing?”

The alien in question is currently hiding behind Hunk who does _not_ look happy about being helpful to a person whom he is still very much pissed at. Nyma doesn’t seem to care that she may be incurring the wrath of an angry Hunk and instead looks off down the street.

“Just hide me!” she hisses, ducking back down.

Lance shares a look with Pidge before turning back to the lithe alien. “Aren’t you supposed to be a highly trained bounty hunter?”

_“Yes,”_ Nyma snaps. “What of it?”

“How the _hell_ did you get caught by a swap moon constable?” Pidge finishes the thought for her. “I’ve seen at least five walk right past what was _definitely_ a drug deal going on because they're so unobservant.” pause. “Or corrupt.”

Nyma opens her mouth but seems to have no response to that and snaps it shut. She glares at Pidge who holds her stare placidly.

After several tense moments, Nyma nods to herself, seemingly deciding something. “You’re annoying.”

Pidge snorts. “And you’re a bitch.”

The pair smirk at each other and before Lance knows it, they’ve transformed into a whirlwind of bad decisions and are running off to no doubt cause mass amounts of havoc. Lance doesn’t even get the chance to protest before they’re both running off to places unknown.

She looks back at Hunk who just shakes his head.

Well, here’s hoping they don’t burn anything down.

***

“Oh! You should get something for Shay!” Lance says out of the blue when she catches sight of a six-armed vendor selling an array of glittering necklaces.

“What?” Hunk asks dumbly.

“You know,” she rolls her eyes, “your new totally-not-girlfriend from the planet we just saved? She gave you that shiny new bling?”

Hunk narrows his eyes at her before staring down at the dimly glowing Touchstone. “Is this a trap? I feel like this is a trap.”

“Would I trick you?”

“Yes. many times, actually. You are a horrible matchmaker.”

“Aha!” Lance crows, dragging him towards the vendor. “So, you admit matchmaking is applicable in this situation!”

“No! No, I am not,” he insists, planting his feet on the ground firmly and yanking her back to his side. “Because you are the worst matchmaker ever and I don’t need your help.”

Lance’s eyes widen, pouting up at him with her ‘hellish, puppy dog eyes’ she knows Hunk hates. He doesn’t look very amused and she drops them. “That’s mean, Hunk. I just want to help you find that special someone.”

He snorts disbelievingly. “Lance, you’ve scared away anyone who had even a vague interest in me.”

“I didn’t try to!”

“No,” he agrees, “you didn’t. But everyone who meets us in a vaguely casual setting immediately thinks we’re dating which isn’t conducive to _finding that special someone,_ Lance.”

Which, okay. _Sure_ , after almost a decade of having Hunk in her life, she knows how people look at them and assume. She understands what it looks like when she leaves Hunk’s bedroom wearing one of his shirts and not much else. Or when she drapes herself all over him. Or when she showers him in compliments and pet names and affection.

But that doesn’t mean she’ll _stop._ It doesn’t _matter_ what other people think. Her and Hunk have a level of intimacy Lance isn’t lucky enough to experience twice in her life. So, there is no way in _hell_ she’ll let him go without a fight.

If a new significant other can’t understand that? Refuses to take their words for it? Well, Lance has no problem sending them packing. And she knows Hunk doesn’t either if that girl from freshman year means anything.

Instead of saying any of that though, she just huffs and crosses her arms, stalking toward the jewelry vendor because her idea is still a good one dammit. “They were weak. If they couldn’t accept that we’re a package deal--no ifs, ands, or buts--they didn’t deserve you anyway.”

“I don’t know if that was meant as a compliment to yourself or to me.”

“Both!”

Hunk snorts again, casually looking at the wares over Lance’s shoulder as they switch to other inane and random topics not involving Hunk’s failed love life.

Lance is visibly smug when Hunk leaves with a wonky, heart-shaped stone necklace that he says ‘reminds him of home’ attached to the string with decorative spirals of wire. Hunk pretends to ignore her for the next five minutes as she not so subtly makes fun of him.

***

They do eventually find Keith.

Problem is, they find him in the middle of a large crowd of people circled around him and another guy twice his size. By the chaotic screams of ‘ _Fight! Fight! Fight!’_ Lance doesn’t think they’re engaged in a dance battle.

Hunk, unsurprisingly, is immediately worried and starts hopping from one foot to another while making concerned sounds. Lance rolls her eyes and honestly isn't surprised. Keith has a special talent for pissing people off, it was only a matter of time before someone decked him.

Unbidden, the memory of Lance doing just flies to the forefront of her mind. It reminds her of how sick she felt after she’d done it, how triumphant she’d felt before the guilt and horror had set in.

Now, it just makes her stomach _roll_ and she realizes she very much does not want to see Keith get his nose bashed in, no matter how much he might deserve it.

Suddenly, she’s moving forward without prompting, the sudden need to get Keith out of the situation pushing her forward.

All it takes is two quick steps before Lance is yanking the back of Keith’s jacket and dragging him back to Hunk. She ignores the jeering of the crowd and the loud ‘boo’s being thrown at her, waving it all away with a smile and a joke she’s sure the crowd doesn’t actually hear.

Hunk has to pick Keith up over his shoulder to drag him away and even then, he kicks out like a feral cat, angry at being dragged away from his deathmatch. Lance has to slap a hand over the idiot’s mouth so he doesn’t keep shouting insults at whoever he was about to be creamed by and end up getting all _three_ of them killed.

Once they’re far enough away, Lance takes her hand away but immediately pushes her face into his space so she can hiss, “What the _hell_ was that?” at him.

Keith scowls right back at her from where he’s still perched on Hunk’s shoulder. Hunk had gone to go put him down, but Lance had placed a hand on his back to still him, not trusting the reckless idiot to stand by himself like a big boy.

“A kidnapping, apparently.”

_“Ah, genial,”_ Lance drawls. “ _Now,_ he develops a sense of humor. Do you think you almost dying is funny?”

“I could have taken him!” Keith argues.

“He was twice your goddamn size, _tarado!”_ she bites, slipping into the harsh clipped Spanish her Mamá used when she was pissed at her or her sisters. _“¿Estás loco?”_

“What? No!”

_“¡Dios!”_ she flicks his forehead. “You’re lucky Shiro didn’t find you first.”

Without waiting for his response, Lance steps around to Hunk’s front, ready to continue doing what it was they were doing before getting sidetracked by Reindeer Games.

***

Rolo greets her by pick-pocketing her like the smug asshole he is.

She’s distracted by bartering with a stall owner who’s selling a variety of exotic cloth when she feels the weight of her back pocket lighten and spins around quickly, hand already reaching for the makeshift wallet.

He pulls it just out of reach and she grasps at empty air, but he looks impressed and surprised all the same.

Her face morphs from righteous anger to something like frustration when she sees who it is.

“How did you do that?” he asks before she can get a word in edgewise.

Her lips twist into a frown. “What? How did I know you tried to pickpocket me like some two-bit thief?”

“Uh, yeah? I haven’t had someone notice in years.”

She shrugs, lunging for her wallet again. He pulls it further out of reach. “Maybe you just suck by Earth standards?” she says unkindly. “Give it back!”

“No, seriously. How?”

She settles back on her heels, glaring up at him with her palm outstretched. He stares back at her calmly for all of three seconds before he reluctantly hands over the wallet.

Lance puts it in her front pocket this time. “My cousins,” she says. “They used to do it to me as a sort of game. Not just pickpocketing, though that was the most common. Anything was up for grabs, really. They said it was to keep me sharp and on my toes. I think it’s because they’re all kleptomaniacs.”

Rolo raises an eyebrow, stuffing his hands in his pocket. “Strange family.”

Lance laughs, thinking about her tios and tias and her myriad of cousins on her mother’s side. Thinks about the way they’d get along great with Nyma and Rolo and how they’d have a blast on this swap moon, conning and stealing and _living_.

“You don’t know the half of it,” it what she says instead. Then, “I bet you I can pickpocket more people than you can.”

Rolo blinks down at her, surprised once again. Lance delights is being so good at putting that expression on people she interacts with. “Aren’t you supposed to be one of the goody-goodies of the universe? Heroic saviors and all that? I don’t think you’re supposed to pickpocket people.”

Lance rolls her eyes. “In the time you’ve known me, what has given you the impression I’m a ‘goody-goody’?”

Rolo opens his mouth before promptly closing once more. “Fair point. You’re on.”

Lance grins, and then they’re off.

***

She’s been at it for fifteen or so minutes and has collected two wallets and a pocket watch in that amount of time. She’s not sure how Rolo is doing, but she can see him wandering through the crowd, languid and casual like he always is.

She just about to score wallet number three when things go sideways.

The man whips around and grabs her wrist, making her almost drop the wallet to the ground. Luckily, she keeps her firm hold on it and stares up at the, admittedly _towering_ , alien before her in surprise for a solid second before she blurts the first thing to come to mind. Which, is _not_ the obvious and safest choice of, “I’m so sorry, please don’t hurt me,” but rather an awestruck, “Holy _shit_ , you’re pretty.”

It takes him--him? She’s pretty sure it’s a him even if he’s terribly feminine with his _gorgeous_ white hair that makes Lance want to ask what product he’s using--so off guard, his hand slackens. Not enough for her to wiggle out of, but enough that she’s not in danger of him snapping her wrist in half anymore.

“I beg your pardon?”

She blinks, assesses her situation, and then decides to just roll with it. She normally flirts her way out of confrontations anyway. “You’re just… very attractive and I was not expecting that. I’m not sure what’s up with my luck lately for finding hot, purple, aliens but I am _killing it,_ let me tell you.”

Purple Tom Hiddleston just stares down at her, utterly baffled. She wiggles her eyebrows suggestively at him which seems to bring him back to the present.

He drops her hand like it burned him and Lance smirks even as she rubs her aching wrist.

He recovers quickly though, straightening up to his full height--which _seriously?_ Are all aliens literal _giants?_ \--and holds his hand out in front of him. “If you would be kind enough to return my coin pouch to me.”

Lance raises her eyebrow at the formality of his… _everything_. The way he stands and speaks and looks at her just _screams_ rich aristocrat. He even has a similar not-quite-a-British accent Allura and Coran have that makes them sound so posh.

She looks down at the pouch in her hand and decides there is no way this amount of money can mean anything important to him.

“And what if I don’t?” she teases, head cocked as she tosses the pouch from one hand to another.

Alien Dorian Gray narrows his eyes like he has no idea what to make of her. A look she is very familiar with all things considered and doesn’t bother to take personally.

“Then I will take it back by force, if necessary,” he says firmly. It’s not threatening, but there is a certain weight behind his voice that tells Lance he isn’t joking.

Unfortunately for him, that’s all she does in tense situations.

“Is that a promise, _Bello?”_ she practically purrs at him, smile wide and crooked and flirtatious.

He blinks once, twice, three times at her as if she’ll disappear and he won’t have to deal with her anymore. She doesn’t, though, and his mouth twists into something confused looking.

“Are you… are you _flirting_ with me?” he looks around her as if someone is going to jump out at him and yell about how he’s being punked. He eyes her suspiciously. “Is this a trap?”

“Uh…” Lance says, because that is not the normal reaction she gets when she flirts. “No?” Pause. “Should it be?”

“No.”

She gives him a _look_. The one she gives people when they’re acting weird or crazy. “You are one paranoid motherfucker. You’re lucky I hang out with at least two on a regular basis. Name’s Lance.”

She sticks her hand out, the coin pouch nestled in her open palm for him to grab. He stares at it for a second before grabbing it.

Before Lance can pull back her hand, Tall, Dark, and Purple takes her--comparatively _tiny_ \--hand in his own and presses his lips lightly across the backs of her knuckles in a courtly kiss.

“Well met, Lance. I am Lotor Koltarius, Captain of the Loyal Ó Móráin.”

The action takes her so completely by surprise that she almost misses the way he smirks at her as he lets go of her hand.

She does notice though, and she can’t help the way she smiles wide and sharp and absolutely _delighted._

“Oh ho _ho_! So, he _does_ have a sense of humor after all!”

“Well,” Lotor says conversationally as he folds his hands behind his back, leaning forward slightly. “In my experience, one has more humor when they _aren’t_ in the middle of being robbed.”

Lance winces, smile turning embarrassed. “Okay, you may have a point there. Sorry, about that by the way.”

Lotor hums non-committedly. “Be careful who you steal from. Not all are as forgiving as I.”

“Nor as easy on the eyes,” Lance adds, almost absently. She watches as Lotor’s ears twitch oddly, the movement catching Lance’s eye. Then, she looks him up and down, examining his outfit. “So, you a pirate captain then, Jack Sparrow?” she asks, eyeing his alien armour dubiously.

Lotor’s brows furrow at her nickname. “Not exactly.”

Lance raises an eyebrow at his non-answer, ready to ask him more questions when her bracer buzzes against her wrist causing her to jump.

Her timer is going off. _Shit._ She only has thirty minutes before she has to be back and she still hasn’t found anything for Coran.

Lance turns the buzzing off and sloppily salutes Lotor. “Sorry, gotta blast. Places to be, things to steal, chaos to spread. Girl things, ya know?” she says as she’s already walking away. “It was nice meeting you!”

Lotor stares after her with a bewildered expression on his face as she disappears into the crowd.

She sees Rolo turn into an alleyway, and figuring he might be helpful gift shopping, follows after him to drag him back to the stalls.

What she finds in the alley, is _not_ what she had been expecting.

***

“Where did you- What the _hell_ is that?!”

Lance stares up at Hunk, trying to figure out if it’s worth it to be offended that that is the first thing he says to her instead of something like, “Hi, Lance,” or “Hey! Good to see you didn’t get lost and/or kidnapped on this unfamiliar alien planet. Glad you’re back!”

She eventually decides to go with the purposefully obtuse response because while she loves Hunk more than the moon, she also _really_ enjoys fucking with him. “Hunk, don’t be mean. You _know_ who Rolo is.”

Rolo protests from where he is standing what he considers ‘a safe distance’ away from her and is largely ignored.

“I didn’t mean _him.”_

“It’s not nicer to say it to Henrietta, either! You’ll hurt her delicate feelings.” Lance leans over to pluck the chicken Rolo was holding out of his hands and coo at her, gently smoothing the feathers on her neck.

“I didn’t mean the chicken, either!” he says, sounding well on his way to distressed.

“Though, where did you even _get_ one?” Keith interjects, staring at Henrietta like if he blinks she’ll suddenly disappear like a hallucination.

“She bought her from a man in an alleyway,” Rolo informs, crossing his arms around the many bags he’s carrying for her. Lance nods in agreement while Keith nods understandingly and Hunk makes a strangled whine.

“What about the _three-headed snake_ around your neck?” he almost shouts at her.

Lance blinks at him, then calmly at the brightly colored snake curled around her entire upper body. The orange and purple colored head she’d named Naga was currently napping on her shoulder while the deep black and blue striped one named Scythe was curiously inspecting Henrietta who stays still and poised like the queen among chickens she is. She can’t see Hiss at the moment but assumes she’s doing something no doubt troublesome.

In the ten minutes she’s had her girls, she’s discovered two things. One: all of them were unbearably needy and cuddly to a fault, and two: Hiss was the wily one of the group.

“I got them from the same guy. You want to pet them?”

“No, Lance! It has _three heads.”_

“Yeah, you said that already,” she comments wryly.

Hunk groans like she’s being particularly difficult. All she did was get a pet! This is not the first time she’s done this. She doesn’t know _why_ he’s so upset.

“Anyway! I finally found Coran and Allura’s presents!”

“Please tell me the snake is for Coran,” Hunk says from where he has his face in his hands.

_“Pfft._ No. The snake is for _me._ Henrietta is for Coran. She can keep him company doing… whatever it is he does around the Castle and when I tell him she’s an Earth animal, he’ll love her for sure! It’s like I’m giving him a bit of my home. I got Allura this sweet ass knife.”

Lance gives Henrietta to Keith to hold, who takes her only because he’s surprised to even be handed the animal. He and Henrietta both stare at each other for a long moment. Lance thinks it might be a staring contest to establish who’s the alpha or something.

If it is, Henrietta wins.

She pulls out the box holding the shimmering iridescent knife to show Hunk, who looks at it but keeps his distance, trying to stay as far away from Scythe’s curious tongue as possible. Keith is less afraid of the snake and leans in to openly admire the knife. He nods appreciatively as if giving his approval and Henrietta mimics him, bobbing her head as well.

Lance huffs at Hunk, raising Scythe closer to him. “Come on, you big baby. It’s just a snake.”

“It’s a very big and alien and possibly venomous snake, Lance! It could be dangerous.”

Rolo snorts, eyeing her girls nervously, the only outward sign he’s scared of them. “Oh, it’s _definitely_ dangerous. Keeping a hydra as a pet is illegal in at least fifteen systems.”

Keith looks over at the hydra with curiosity at that, tucking Henrietta under his arm.

“Oh, _whatever,”_ Lance drawls, flapping her hand like it will wave away the possible illegality of her actions, “Hunk tried to pet a feral cat once.”

“That was _different._ ”

“No, it wasn’t,” she scolds. “Don’t be reptilist, Hunk.”

“I’m not being-!” he cuts himself off, sighing harshly through his nose. “Did you really need to get a… a _hydra_?”

“Yes,” she says immediately. “They looked sad, sitting in the basket all alone.”

Hunk opens his mouth to say something else when Keith points behind them both. “There’s a guy over there who looks angry and he’s coming towards us.”

Lance looks over to see that, yes, there is in fact an angry alien coming their way and he looks distinctly like the constable type person who was chasing Nyma earlier. Rolo swears colorfully.

“So it has occurred to me,” Rolo starts sounding calmer than someone who was pickpocketing people earlier and deals in illegal activities on the daily should have any right to be, “that this system may be one of the previously mentioned ones where owning a hydra may be… a little outside of what is strictly _legal.”_

Hunk and Keith stare at Rolo and her in horror.

“Are you telling me you _illegally_ bought a dangerous, possibly venomous, alien snake?” Hunk asks, his voice raising an octave or two as he speaks.

Hiss finally makes a reappearance by trying to slither into her shirt while Scythe tries to twine around her wrist. “Well, we _did_ tell you we bought them in an alleyway from a really shady dude,” Rolo says which causes Hunk to glare at him. Which is really saying something because Hunk doesn’t glare at people.

“It could also be the chicken,” Lance offers.

Hunk makes a choked noise and the cop-guy-man is steadily making their way toward them. He doesn’t look happy _at all._

Keith is still staring at her incredulously and Lance looks down at Henrietta who is taking this entire situation as regally as a chicken could.

Lance can’t help but think Coran is going to _love_ her.

“Okay!” she tells them, all but shoving the knife box into Hunk’s hands so she can readjust the snake on her shoulders. “So, the plan is that Keith and Rolo are deaf and Hunk and I don’t speak English.”

“We’re on an alien planet!” Keith hisses. “No one _but_ us speaks English!”

“What the hell is an English?” Rolo asks. He is ignored again.

_“Oh…_ right.”

Keith scowls and Hunk looks like he’s five seconds away from panicking.

Lance looks back at the angry, alien, market police guy-thing and comes to a new decision.

“Okay, new plan,” she says cheerily, grabbing both their arms even as she’s already moving, Rolo having the same idea. “ _Run.”_

***

They make it to the rocket, out of breath and panting, at the same time Pidge and Nyma do, the pair looking distinctly dirty and out of breath as well.

The two groups blink at each other before asking, in unison, “What the hell happened to _you_ guys?”

“Is that a chicken?” Pidge asks before catching sight of Naga at her shoulder. “Is that a _snake?”_

“Are you wearing a _crown?”_ Hunk asks Pidge incredulously, then turns to Nyma and promptly looks away. “And what happened to your _clothes?”_

Nyma shrugs, standing there in far skimpier clothing than what she came here with. It also looks far more expensive which makes Lance wonder where she got them. It _does_ do wonders for her curves though.

Lance winks at her suggestively.

Nyma winks back.

Hunk looks like he wants to push her over but refuses to get closer to the hydra still wrapped firmly around her torso.

“Okay, but seriously,” Pidge says, “What is up with the chicken?”

“She’s for Coran!” Lance says excitedly. “Her name is Henrietta.”

Shiro pokes his head out from the ship, expression flat as he looks them all over--skipping quickly past Nyma because he’s a ‘gentleman’. “Did anyone even follow _one_ of my rules?”

Lance, considering she barely even remember the rules, is gonna go with no. Probably not.

“We got here on time?” Hunk offers, unsurely.

Shiro blinks at him. “That was supposed to be twenty minutes ago.”

“We were busy! And-”

“You get back here!” comes a bellowing voice that immediately puts Lance and the others on edge.

“And that’s our cue to leave!” Lance shouts before clambering into the ship, followed closely by everyone else (but not, like, too close because Rolo and Nyma seemed terrified--though they hid it marginally well--by Naga, Scythe, and Hiss and everyone else was healthily wary).

***

Nobody wanted to sit next to her while she had Naga, Scythe, and Hiss draped around her shoulders which meant she had as much room in the pod as she wanted for the next few hours.

A pretty good deal as far as she was concerned. She nuzzled each head individually and earned happy little trills that had Hunk practically clawing at the wall each time in his effort to get as far away from the snake as he could.

***

“So, what _did_ you get into, Pidgeon?”

“Oh, you know,” she shrugs nonchalantly. “I became a pseudo-god to a secret society of mole people and Nyma hoed around as my not-so-loyal consort.”

Lance opens her mouth then abruptly closes it, stares at her for a long second and then says, “Well, if you didn’t want to tell me you didn’t have to.”

***

Lance is out of the pod before it even stops moving, her girls the size of a garter snake and curled securely around her wrist.

Funny thing she’d learned about hydrae on the trip back: they like to change size. It had been _really_ funny when they had suddenly decided to be 20 feet long. Lance had never seen Hunk so _freaked_ before.

Well… freaked in a funny way, at least.

The others follow at a more sedate pace but are no less happy to exit the pod seeing as they’re all _officially_ sick of each other even if they are much closer to one another than before they started if Lance’s _expert_ opinion is anything to go by.

“Coran!” Lance shouts happily, launching herself at the older alien for a hug.

“Lance, my dear girl!” he responds with just as much enthusiasm, picking her up and twirling her around in the way Hunk does that makes her feel small and cherished and happy. “How was the swap moon? Didn’t get into any trouble, did you?”

“Me?” she gasps, affronted as he sets her down. “Get in trouble? _Never._ ”

Coran laughs, full-bellied and loud. “Of course! What was I thinking?”

Lance grins crookedly before straightening up with excitement. “Oh! I almost forgot!” she grabs his hand, dragging him back towards the pod doors. “I got you something.”

She reaches back into the main space everyone recently vacated and plucks Henrietta off the ground where she’d been pecking at anything within reach. Swiftly, she turns with the chicken held in front of her triumphantly, grin wide and bright on her face.

_“Ta-da!”_ she singsongs.

Coran’s eyes widen, smile growing wider until Lance can see all of teeth gleam. “Oh, my dear, I love it!” Pause. Then, quietly, _“What is it?”_

Lance stifles her giggles even as she can hear Pidge shamelessly snickering off to the side.

“It’s a chicken,” she says simply.

“A _chee_ -kin?” he asks, eyeing the bird curiously.

That time Lance can’t help laughing at him. “A _chicken._ It’s a type of animal from Earth. Not sure how she ended up on that swap moon, but she was. Her name’s Henrietta, and _now,”_ she says, holding the chicken out closer to Coran’s curious hands. “She’s yours.”

He blinks down at Henrietta almost disbelievingly as he gently takes her from Lance’s hands. Then, his eyes shoot up to hers, his eyes bright and happy. “A real Earth creature? Are you sure?”

She nods, rocking on her heels. “Positive.”

He drags her into a second hug where she has no choice but to reciprocate with his free hand and presses his lips onto the top of her head. “Thank you, Lance. It is a wonderful gift.”

Lance basks in the feeling for a long moment, unwilling to break the comfortable contact. Unfortunately, Pidge is a brat who doesn't let Lance have nice things. “Now that you two are done being disgustingly cute, you wanna give the rest of us a hand?” she shouts from behind a heap of boxes she’s carrying.

Lance rolls her eyes. “Yeah, yeah. Be there in a sec.” She waves her hand dismissively, turning to climb back in the front seat and grab her bag when Coran freezes at her side. She looks up at him questioningly. “Coran?”

“What is that on your wrist?” he says, the slightest shake in his voice.

She looks down at her wrist, but all she sees is Scythe, tongue flickering in Coran’s direction as she scents the air. She’s too small right now to do any damage so that can’t be what Coran is scared of.

But when she looks back up at him uncomprehendingly, his eyes haven’t left Scythe’s.

“It’s just Scythe,” she says simply, raising her wrist to his face to say hi. Coran almost flinches back from her which makes Lance freeze. Then, slowly, a grin stretches across her face.

“Are you scared of the little snake, Coran?”

“I’m not sure what this ‘snack’ is, but _that_ is most definitely a _hydra._ An _incredibly_ dangerous reptile that possesses venom so acidic it can melt through altean _skin.”_

Lance blinks.

Well, she hadn’t known _that._

“They wouldn’t do that,” she defends.

Coran looks skeptical but relents. “If you trust it, then I will as well.”

***

After that, Shiro wastes no time in ordering everyone to help Hunk put everything away in the pantry.

Halfway through, Lance slips away to get Naga, Scythe, and Hiss tucked away into the pool. The alleyway guy said they preferred water habitats so that’s what Lance is going to give them. She’s asked CORINN if there was anything in the pool water that would hurt them and was given the all-clear.

Of course, the pool was upside down and Lance still didn’t understand _why_ or even _how_ you would get up there so she had to resort to plan B. Soothing her baby girls and explaining what she’s about to do she then gathers them up and does her best at throwing them straight up in the air.

Luckily, her girls are the smartest snakes in existence because they shrink in order to make it into the pool above and proceed to splash happily in the water.

Lance grins when Scythe pokes her head out to chirp happily, her girls already growing again, this time to something the size of an anaconda as they happily swim the length of the large pool.

She waves goodbye and promises to visit with food in the morning.

***

“Hey, baby girl!” Lance greets loudly as the doors to Azura’s hangar swing open.

In an instant, blue swirls around her, cool metal crowding her and vibrating hard enough to chatter her teeth. Lance laughs and leans into her giant kitten disguised as a war machine, even as the metal chills her skin and shakes her bones.

“Looks like someone missed me as much as I missed them!”

_“You were so far away. I did not like it. It would take too long to get to you if you needed me.”_

Lance’s smile turns the slightest bit sad as she swipes her arm across the metal of Azura’s snout, trying to reach as much of it as she can. Her eyes stare into the swirling depths of sea storms and starlight when she speaks. “I didn’t like it much either, baby blues.”

Being that far away from Azura… it felt _wrong_. It didn’t cause her extreme pain--thankfully--but it was like an emptiness in her head. Azura’s voice was distant and Lance could barely feel her, like a faint shimmering of color on the horizon line. It made her uneasy that Azura wasn’t at her fingertips, that she wasn’t by her side where she belonged.

(Lance should probably be concerned how easily she’s gotten used to another voice in her head. She isn’t, but she probably should be.)

Coran had explained the specifics of the bond’s distance limits after the whole ‘Azura almost getting kidnapped’ fiasco. Specifically, that it wasn’t the distance that was the problem, but rather a mix of forcing them apart and Lance suppressing Azura’s actions when she tried getting back to her.

The bond is a partnership, an equal one. Any effort to smother the other half will result in extreme pain and other dire consequences Lance asked not to hear about.

She’d already experienced more about it than she ever wanted to.

“But I’m fine right?” Lance continues, forcing her smile to be more genuine. “All okay and accounted for.”

Azura harrumphs like she doesn’t quite agree but isn’t willing to pick a fight about it. Lance swipes her hand across her metal jaw, reaching up towards her nose.

“Don’t be such a worrywart,” she teases.

Azura scoffs, tail flicking behind her. _“‘Worrywart’? You and your earth sayings are so strange.”_

“Like you have any room to talk!” Lance says, laughing. “You called me a, what was it? A ‘mincing Judoon’ the other day? What does that even _mean?”_

Her Lion huffs, _“I already explained it. I’m not going to repeat myself.”_

“Oh, _pardon me_ , princess.”

_“You are pardoned.”_

***

Eventually, Lance makes it to Allura’s room to check on her and bring her her present. She does a courtesy knock on the door before barging in immediately without waiting for an answer.

It’s a good thing too because then she catches Allura red handed.

The princess in question whips around to face her, eyes wide at being caught at her desk rather than in the luxuriously large bed where she should be.

Lance crosses her arms and cocks her hip, imitating her Mamá’s ‘just what do you think you’re doing?’ face.

“Lance!” Allura sputters awkwardly, trying to hide all the documents in front of her by leaning on them in the least casual way Lance has ever seen. “What a surprise. You guys are back already?”

Without answering, Lance marches over and rips the paper out of her hands, ignoring Allura’s protests. It’s a diplomatic document. A peace treaty between them and the Balmerans along with a promise to help in combat scenarios depending on the circumstances.

Lance gives Allura a sharp look over the top of the paper.

“You’re supposed to be resting,” she says pointedly.

Allura snatches the treaty back with an unfair amount of dignity given the situation. Her voice is indignant when she speaks. “I don’t take orders from you.”

Lance rolls her eyes, well used to that phrase being thrown around thanks to her sisters. Instead of deigning that with a response, she grabs Allura’s hands and tugs her away from the desk. Allura protests until she realizes Lance isn’t dragging her to bed, but rather out the door.

“Where are you taking me?” the princess asks, the slightest hint of suspicion in her tone. Like she expects Lance to play some sort of prank on her.

“My room,” she answers simply.

Allura only gets _more_ confused and suspicious at that answer, so Lance elaborates.

“You obviously can’t sit still, so I’m going to distract you. If you won’t sleep, we can do something else relaxing that still engages you. Hunk does this for me a lot so I’m basically an expert by this point,” she rambles. “Also, I have a gift for you.”

She waves the bag still hanging from her elbow, watching as Allura tilts her head interestedly. Lance grins up at her because she knows Allura will love it.

***

It’s half an hour later and Lance is on her bed, knees folded under her just so she can _reach,_ and facial mask safely exfoliating her skin (bright side to getting blown up: the cryopod helpfully notes down anything dangerous for her chemical makeup to come into contact with, and, with the expertise of CORINN’s infinite knowledge, makes shopping for alien beauty products a goddamn _breeze_ ) while she’s wrist deep in Allura’s hair as said princess rants about altean politics and its portrayal in a random Solisian rom-com from roughly 10,004 years ago.

Lance nods and hums at all the right places while Allura waves her hands about, her new knife clutched expertly in her hand. The arusian mice are sprawled across her lap after Allura almost knocked them off one too many times. They are all squeaking like they’re interested as well, and with the way Allura will sometimes pause and tilt her head in their direction, Lance even thinks their giving their own opinions.

Whatever they are, they aren’t sharing them with her despite their ability to do so on account of them being _telepathic._

Lance tries not to be bitter about it and fails miserably. The mice are lucky they’re cute or else she would have banished them to the floor by now.

“-and truly! Just ignorant can you be? As if a trained Altean diplomat would ever mistake Convention 15 of the Shadow Proclamation for anything other than a request to parley! Any self-respecting galactic _citizen_ knows that! I don’t understand how that even made the final cut-”

Lance nods her head vigorously even though she has _no fucking clue_ what the hell she’s talking about. She’s almost finished with the intricate up-do when Hunk suddenly barges into the room--well, the door opens with a silent _‘whoosh’_ a second after a cursory knock which is basically the same thing for him.

He’s halfway in the room, already dressed in his pajamas--a loose but incredible soft t-shirt and baggy sweatpants--before he notices Lance isn’t the only one in the room.

He seems to freeze mid-step, eyes blinking rapidly at the scene in front of him. Allura stares back, eyes blinking even faster than Hunk’s.

She probably thinks it’s some sort of earth custom. Coran and her have been very interested in those sorts of things ever since Lance had made a few pop culture references in their presence. She’s pretty sure Allura now believes Rambo is a legendary warrior from Earth and that ‘Earthlings’ worship a giant boulder among other odd things that aren’t actually as far from the truth as humans would like to believe.

Lance has no inclination to explain otherwise so Allura and Coran are going to believe these things until one of the others catch on and try to stop it. In which they won’t be successful, but what can you do?

“Greetings, Hunk,” Allura says politely. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh…” He says eloquently, clutching his pillow tighter to his chest.

Lance rolls her eyes. “Get over here. Allura will paint your nails and you can try explaining Ducktales to her. She doesn’t seem to be understanding.”

Allura scoffs then jerks her head like she wants to whip around and glare at Lance but with Lance French braiding her hair still, she doesn’t get far. “That is because you are confusing! You say it is a ‘cartoon’ of this ‘duck’ family who aren’t actual ducks! And they go on adventures which is not a thing you say normal ‘ducks’ are able to do!” she huffs, crossing her arms in frustration. “It makes no sense.”

Lance gives Hunk a look like she can’t believe Allura isn’t getting it. He shakes his head, at her or at Allura she can’t tell. But the next thing he says is “The original cartoon or the 2017 version?” so she counts it as a win.

Lance hums as if she’s thinking about it. “Both.”

Hunk grumbles like he never expected different before walking straight to her bathroom and emerging a second later with the nail polish Lance had before the shopping trip. He plops down on the ground in front of Allura, snagging the new polish and stuff Lance just bought and starts to work.

By the end of the night, Allura is yawning profusely and all three of them have matching gold nails with an altean lily on their thumbs done by Allura who is apparently ambidextrous.

All in all, a successful girls’ night as far as she’s concerned.

Next time she’ll be sure to invite Coran and Pidge. Maybe even Nyma, if she’s into this kind of thing.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter _kicked my ass._ you guys do not know how long I have been stuck on this chapter and I will not tell you because it is frankly embarrassing. I will say, I rewrote this thing at least three times in its entirety so hopefully you guys like this version.

**Author's Note:**

> Come hang out with me at [lady-literature](https://lady-literature.tumblr.com) over on Tumblr! I'm always happy to talk.


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